Children of the Dark - Year 3
by cleotheo
Summary: It's third year for Hermione, Harry and Draco. With Voldemort preparing to return to full strength, he has no mission for the trio. But it's hardly going to be a dull year with an escaped prisoner of the loose and a new Defence Professor, both of whom seem to have a connection to Harry. Dark Hermione! Dark Harry! Part three of a seven part series.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N – Welcome back to Children of the Dark. Just a quick reminder that it's a dark story, with Harry and Hermione both on the dark side.**

 **This part features the first flickering's of romance, but nothing too strong just yet. I've had a few people asking about the invisibility cloak and if Harry will be getting it. He will come into possession of the cloak before the end of the series, but not quite yet.**

 **Updates will be the usual, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and this part has 22 chapters. Enjoy!**

* * *

Hermione Granger lay in the back garden, her nose buried in a new book and a glass of ice cold lemonade sitting beside her. Hermione was enjoying the summer sunshine that had been present since they finished school just over three weeks ago. In just over a month she would be going back to Hogwarts alongside her best friends, Harry and Draco, but for now she was enjoying the relaxation of being at home. Although she was starting to miss her two friends.

Draco and his parents had headed off to Greece a week after the holidays started, and were due back any day now. Harry, meanwhile, had spent the last week on holiday with his father, her older brother, Severus Snape. Severus had asked Hermione if she wanted to join them, but they'd been heading somewhere remote to enjoy some time together, and she knew they'd be spending the majority of their time outdoors so she'd passed on the offer. It had meant for the last week, Hermione had been on her own, but she'd enjoyed the time with her parents. However, she was starting to get antsy for some company.

Hermione had no sooner finished thinking about how she missed her friends when she heard movement behind him. Assuming it was one of her parents, Hermione didn't bother to turn round. It was only when a shadow fell over her book that she looked up, expecting to find either Beth or Voldemort standing over her. However, when she looked up she found Draco standing over her with a grin on his face.

"Draco," Hermione cried excitedly as she got to her feet.

The second Hermione was standing upright, she realised her best friend had grown several inches since she'd last seen him. For the past few years, he'd been roughly the same size as her, but now he was several inches taller than her. She also noticed that the gel he normally wore in his hair was absent, leaving his blond locks free to fall over his grey eyes.

"Wow, you've grown," Hermione remarked as she gave Draco a hug. "And you've stopped wearing that awful gel in your hair."

"I decided it was time for a new look," Draco replied with a shrug. "Besides, I think I look better without it."

"I've been telling you that for years," Hermione shot back. "Without the gel you're actually not that bad looking."

"Thanks," Draco replied, giving Hermione a cocky grin.

"I said, not that bad, not gorgeous," Hermione snorted. Actually she thought gorgeous might be a more apt description of her friend, but she wasn't going to tell him that, his ego was big enough without her adding to it.

"Don't insult me, or I might not give you your present," Draco teased.

"You've bought me a present?" Hermione asked.

"Of course," Draco replied as he pulled a box from his pocket and handed it to his best friend.

Hermione opened the box and found a set of tiny glass figurines. Each figurine represented a Greek God or Goddess.

"You can enlarge them to whatever size you want," Draco explained.

"Wow, they're amazing, thank you." Hermione gave Draco a smile and another hug as she safely closed the box so the figurines wouldn't get damaged.

"I've also got a present for Harry. Where is he?"

"He's away with Severus," Hermione answered. "I actually think they're due back sometime today."

"In that case, I'll see him tonight."

"What's happening tonight?"

"We're coming over for dinner," Draco answered. "Mother came with me, and she was arranging things with your mother when I came outside. I think I heard Beth say that your father wanted to talk to mine."

"Maybe they're making plans for next year," Hermione said excitedly. "I've asked Father about next year several times, and he won't tell me anything."

"What makes you think something's going to be happening?" Draco asked. "Next year might be a normal boring year."

Draco had barely finished his sentence before they collapsed in laughter. After their previous two years at Hogwarts, they doubted their third year would be boring and normal. Something was bound to happen, and Hermione's father was bound to have plans of some sort for the coming year.

"Anyway, my parents have been discussing something for the last few weeks," Hermione said. "They're constantly huddled in corners talking, and several times they've stopped talking completely when I enter the room. Something is going on, I bet on it."

"Maybe we'll find out tonight," Draco suggested.

Leaving the subject of what their parents could be planning for the upcoming year to one side, the pair settled down on the grass to catch up. Draco filled Hermione in on his Greek holiday, while Hermione told Draco what she'd been up to.

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

* * *

Harry and Severus returned home just over an hour after Draco had left. Hermione and Harry spent a few hours catching up, and Harry was thrilled that Draco was going to be coming for dinner. Like his friends he was just as eager to find out what would be happening in the upcoming year, and he was hoping dinner would provide the answers.

Unfortunately for the trio, dinner was just friends catching up after not seeing each other for a while. The entire meal was accompanied by tales of holiday adventures, and there wasn't one mention of Voldemort's attempts to get rid of Dumbledore. Anytime Hermione, Harry or Draco brought up the subject of school and Dumbledore, one of the adults swiftly changed the subject.

"Okay you three, it's time to give us some privacy now," Voldemort announced once dinner was over and the group were moving to the living room.

"Why can't we stay?" Hermione demanded, frowning at the fact they were being shut out again.

"We've got a lot to discuss, Hermione," Voldemort said to his daughter. "And before we talk to you three, we need to get some things sorted."

"But you are going to fill us in on what's happening?" Hermione checked.

"Of course," Voldemort replied with a chuckle. "As if we could shut you three out of anything. When we're finished, we'll call you and bring you up to date."

"That is acceptable," Hermione said in a serious voice.

"I'm pleased you think so," Voldemort retorted in amusement. As much as he indulged his daughter, if there was something he thought she would be better off not knowing he wouldn't have any qualms with putting his foot down and refusing to tell her anything. "Now go away for a while, and we'll call you when we're ready."

"Okay," Hermione replied, giving her father a smile before turning and leading the way upstairs.

Since Hermione was leading the way, she automatically headed into her bedroom. When Draco entered the room, he smiled as he spotted her glass figurines enlarged slightly and displayed on a shelf.

"So what do you think's happening downstairs?" Draco asked as he settled himself on Hermione's bed.

"I have no idea," Hermione admitted as she joined Draco on the bed while Harry plonked himself on the chair that stood in front of her desk.

"Did Severus give you any clues while you were away?" Draco asked Harry.

"Nope," Harry replied with a shake of his head. "When I asked him, he told me to have patience."

"I think it's something big," Hermione said. "There wasn't this big secrecy last year. Last year they told us upfront about the chamber."

"Speculating isn't getting us anywhere," Harry said. "We'll find out soon enough, so let's not worry about it. Why don't we play a few hands of exploding snap? I bought a new set of cards while I was away."

Harry went to grab his cards, and the trio spent the next hour and a half playing cards and trying not to think about what was going on downstairs. Finally they heard footsteps on the stairs, and Beth poked her head into the room and said they would like to talk to them. Packing the cards away, the trio hurried downstairs to find out what the plan of action was for the coming year.

"I hope we're going to be doing something exciting," Hermione remarked as she took a seat alongside Draco and Harry.

"I'm afraid, you won't," Voldemort said quietly. "This year you'll be attending school as normal, but with no secret agendas."

"Why not?" Harry asked. "We did really well with the Philosopher's Stone and the Chamber of Secrets."

"I'm not sure I would describe Hermione getting petrified as doing really well," Severus muttered darkly. He was still disturbed by the incident with his little sister and didn't like to dwell on how close she'd come to being killed.

"That wasn't our fault," Hermione protested. "Ginny Weasley was the one to blame there. She opened the chamber, not us."

"And she wouldn't have been able to do so, if I hadn't given Harry my old diary," Voldemort pointed out. "I'm sorry Hermione, but I want you to be safe, and this year that means no secret missions."

"Then what have you and Mother been talking about all summer?" Hermione questioned. "And don't say nothing, because I know that's not true. And you can't have just spent an hour and a half talking about us doing nothing all year."

"You're right, we have been discussing something," Voldemort replied. "Your mother and I both feel the time is right to start thinking about performing the ritual to restore me to full power."

"That's great," Hermione gushed as Harry and Draco also expressed their delight at the news.

"It's not as straightforward as it seems," Beth warned her daughter. "The ritual is complex and requires several elements to be brought together. We estimate it will take us nearly a year to bring everything together so we can perform the ritual."

"That's what your mother and I are going to be doing this year," Voldemort said. "We're leaving in a few days to begin gathering what we need."

"Leaving?" Hermione's face dropped at the thought of her parents going away.

"Yes," Beth said with a nod. "We would love to stay until you go back to school, but we have a contact who can only help us next week. We need to leave in the next few days."

"And what happens to us until we go back to school?" Hermione asked.

"Severus will be staying with you for the next few weeks," Beth explained. "And when he has to go up to Hogwarts to begin preparations for starting the new term, you and Harry will go and stay at the manor."

"What about holidays?" Harry asked. "Can we still come home for Christmas?"

"We'll try and make it back for Christmas, but even if we don't, you'll have Severus," Beth answered.

"This is dangerous, isn't it?" Hermione asked, looking between both her parents. Even though neither of them had said what they were doing would be dangerous, she just had a feeling it was. In fact Hermione suspected the length of the adults conversation had to do with the fact they were discussing what would happen if anything happened to her parents.

Beth and Voldemort shared a look, before Voldemort gave Beth a subtle nod. Even though Hermione was still young, she deserved the truth, as did Harry and Draco.

"Yes, it's dangerous," Voldemort admitted. "The ceremony requires a complex potion to be brewed, and some of the ingredients are rare and hard to get hold of. There's also a few other elements that could prove tricky as well."

"But the ceremony itself is safe, isn't it?" Harry asked. "If you get everything, you'll have no trouble with the ceremony, right?"

"I'm afraid not, Harry," Voldemort said. "The ceremony is extremely dangerous. If it works, I'll be back to my old self, but if it fails, I'll die."

Hermione gasped at the thought of losing her father and she felt tears filling up her eyes. "What are the chances of it working?" She whispered.

Voldemort paused for several seconds, and just when Hermione thought he wasn't going to answer her, he spoke. "Fifty, fifty."

"So you're going to spend a year risking your life gathering stuff for a ritual which only has a fifty percent chance of working?" Hermione seethed as she shot to her feet. "And what happens if it goes wrong? What happens to me and Mother? Or what if something happens over the course of the next year? What if I lose both my parents?"

"You could play what if about every single event in a lifetime," Voldemort said softly. "It doesn't get you anywhere. You have to weigh up all the facts, and take what you think is the best course of action. I think this is a risk worth taking."

"And what if you're wrong?" Hermione questioned as she struggled to hold back her tears.

"It's a risk I'm prepared to take," Voldemort replied, the tone of his voice leaving no room for arguments. "I need to regain my full strength, and this is my best chance. I need to take my best chance, and I need my daughter to support me in that. Can you do that, Hermione?""

Hermione nodded her head. "I can try. I just don't want to lose you."

"Believe me, I don't want to go anywhere," Voldemort said. "We will do everything in our power to stay safe and return home. That's a promise, and have I ever broken a promise to you before?"

"Never," Hermione replied with a small smile.

"So stop worrying, and enjoy the rest of your holidays," Voldemort ordered.

Hermione nodded and agreed to do as her father wanted, but she couldn't shed the uneasy feeling that had settled in the pit of her stomach. She'd always taken it for granted that her father would return to full strength without any issues, and now she knew there was a risk to his life, she was understandably worried. This time next year she could have a fully fit father, or she could have no father. She just hoped it wasn't the latter as she had no idea how she would cope if Voldemort died.


	2. Chapter 2

In the couple of days it took for Voldemort and Beth to make arrangements to begin their travels, Hermione learnt to hide the worry she felt whenever she thought about her parents going away. When they left, she was alongside Severus and Harry saying goodbye, and she made sure neither of them saw the fear she held that they would never come back. Her parents had now been gone a few days, and even though she tried to carry on as normal she was aware that she was slightly snappier than usual. However, as she headed down to breakfast, she vowed to not let her worries affect her day.

"Morning," She called breezily as she entered the dining room and found Severus and Harry already seated.

"You seem brighter," Severus remarked as his sister poured herself some juice and grabbed some toast.

"It's a lovely day, and I don't want to waste it moping around," Hermione said.

"Excellent," Harry declared with a grin. "You can come flying with Draco and I."

"I don't think so." Hermione's face contorted into one of disgust as she brushed off Harry's idea and focused on spreading jam on her toast. "I'm keeping my feet firmly on the ground."

"You really should give flying more of a go," Harry said. "You'll enjoy it if you just gave it a chance."

"I did give it a chance," Hermione retorted. "I learnt to fly alongside you and Draco, I just happen not to like it."

"Not everyone is made for flying, Harry," Severus said, trying to pre-empt an argument between the pair.

"I guess everyone can't be as fun as Draco and I," Harry conceded with a smirk.

Hermione pulled a face at Harry, before turning her attention back to her breakfast. Harry laughed at the fact he'd clearly gotten under Hermione's skin, but before he could say anything else to wind her up, an owl soared in through the open window. The owl was a delivery owl from The Daily Prophet, and it dropped the paper down on the windowsill before taking off again.

"Doesn't it want payment?" Harry asked as Severus got up and retrieved the paper.

"I pay my bill every month, it's easier than paying issue by issue," Severus answered.

Settling back down with the paper, Severus began to read The Daily Prophet while Harry and Hermione discussed their plans for the day. As previously mentioned, Harry was planning on spending some time with Draco and going for a long fly. Hermione didn't have any solid plans, but she was thinking she might just relax in the sun with a good book.

"You two might be interested in page four," Severus said as he finished the paper and passed it over to the two teenagers. "If you need me this morning I'll be in Father's study."

With that, Severus swept out of the room, leaving Harry and Hermione to have a look at the paper. Curious as to what they would find, Hermione switched seats so she was sitting next to Harry. Flicking to page four, they easily found the article and accompanying picture Severus had been talking about. The picture was of the Weasley family, and the article was about Arthur winning The Daily Prophet prize draw and treating his family to a trip to Egypt.

Harry and Hermione had both received letters from Ron in the first week of term, and they'd fully expected him to be asking them to visit during the holidays. However, much to their relief, he was telling them about Arthur's good fortune and the fact the family were all going to Egypt to see the Weasleys eldest son, Bill, who worked as a curse breaker for Gringotts. Ron also mentioned that his parents had bought him a new wand with some of the prize money, which was something of a relief all round as Ron had struggled on with a broken wand through second year and both Hermione and Harry had been worried in case he seriously hurt someone with it. The trip to Egypt had lasted for several weeks, and the pair had been pleased to find that Ron and his family wouldn't be returning home until a few days before the new school year was due to start, which meant there would be no trip to visit Ron in the holidays.

"Is it bad that I'm jealous of Ron?" Hermione asked with a sigh, as she took in the picture of the Weasley family standing in front of a pyramid. Even Ron's rat had made the trip and was sitting quite happily on his shoulder.

"Yes," Harry replied with a snort. "Why are you jealous of Ron?"

"He's in Egypt, a country with so much fascinating history," Hermione explained. "I would love to go to Egypt. And I bet I would appreciate the history and traditions far better than Ron."

"I'm sure you would," Harry agreed. "I can't see Ron soaking up the history of the country. But look on the bright side, because of the trip to Egypt we haven't had to go and stay with Ron and his family. We both know the times coming when we can't avoid it, so let's be grateful for the reprise."

Hermione nodded in agreement as she shut the paper. The pair then vowed to forget about Ron as they enjoyed another lovely summer's day. Draco would be arriving soon, then he and Harry could go flying while Hermione would get to spend the day sunbathing and finishing her book.

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

* * *

"I can't believe you're still reading," Harry commented as he, Hermione and Severus moved into the front room after finishing dinner. While Harry and Severus were going to settle down and play a game of chess, Hermione had announced she was happy to curl up and read.

"It's a different book to what I was reading earlier," Hermione retorted.

"That makes all the difference," Harry muttered, sharing an amused look with his father.

"Don't mock," Hermione warned with a glare.

"You don't mind if we put the radio on, do you?" Severus checked. When Hermione shook her head, Severus turned on the radio and lowered the volume so it was a subtle noise in the background.

"Are you going to play the winner, Hermione?" Harry asked as he set up the chess board.

"Sure," Hermione answered as she curled up in the corner of the sofa with her book. "Just let me know when Severus is ready for me."

"Hey, I might win," Harry protested.

"You won't," Severus said with a chuckle. The pair were quite competitive, and even though Harry was his son, Severus never went easy on him.

With banter flying back and forth, Harry and Severus settled down for a game of chess. Hermione, meanwhile, flipped between reading her book and watching the chess match. For nearly forty minutes, the evening passed without incident, but then the music on the radio abruptly ended and the presenter announced they had some breaking news.

"Turn it up," Severus ordered Hermione, who was sitting the closest to the radio.

"The Ministry has confirmed this evening that convicted mass murderer, Sirius Black, has escaped from Azkaban," The radio presenter announced. "Black has been imprisoned for almost thirteen years, and is a convicted Death Eater. It is believed he escaped earlier today, although officials are said to be baffled how he could escape the high security prison. Citizens are warned to be on the lookout for Black, but not to approach him. He is considered very dangerous, and any sightings are to be reported to the Ministry immediately."

As the announcement was read out, Harry and Hermione noticed Severus's reaction to the news. The second he heard the name Sirius Black, he paled and he was now sitting staring into space.

"Who is this Sirius Black?" Harry asked. "Is he any relation to Narcissa?"

"He's Narcissa's cousin," Severus answered. "He's also your godfather."

"I didn't know I had a godfather," Harry said with a frown. He'd always wondered why Lucius and Narcissa weren't his godparents, given that Severus was Draco's godfather, but the couple of times he asked about godparents, his father had brushed him off.

"Unfortunately you do," Severus replied with a sigh. "Sirius was James Potter's best friend. James had him earmarked as godfather before you were even born, and given the circumstances, Lily wasn't in a position to argue."

"How can he be James Potter's best friend and a supporter of father?" Hermione questioned. "Was he a spy like you?"

"Black wasn't a supporter of Father's," Severus snorted. "The rumour started after he was arrested, and frankly I was always surprised so many people believed it."

"Can you tell us about him?" Harry asked as Hermione turned the radio off. "Who did he kill, and why?"

"He killed a friend of theirs, Peter Pettigrew," Severus answered. "As you know Lily and Potter was supposedly in hiding due to the prophecy Dumbledore had found. Lily told me where they lived, but only another select few people knew where they were. Among those who knew where they were living were Potter's three best friends, which included Black and Pettigrew. After what happened, it was believed that someone had told Father where to find Lily and Potter. Black assumed it was Pettigrew."

"Why did he assume that?" Hermione asked. "What about this other friend that knew everything?"

"I don't know why Black went for Pettigrew, but he was convinced he was the leak," Severus answered. "He confronted Pettigrew at an Order meeting and accused him of being a spy for the dark. Pettigrew cracked and confessed, before running off. Black went after him and the next thing we knew Black had killed Pettigrew. Pettigrew had ran into the muggle world thinking he would be safe, but Black followed him and killed him. Although he didn't just kill him, he tore him to shreds and several muggles were caught in the crossfire. He was caught at the scene of the crime and confessed everything."

"Why did Pettigrew confess to being a spy?" Harry questioned.

"Because he was," Severus answered with a shrug. "He was pretty pathetic, but he passed along bits and pieces of information. He never passed on any information about Lily and Potter as Father wasn't interested in them. To be honest he was a pretty useless worm of a man and chances were Father would have gotten rid of him the second he stopped being of any use to him. He was no-one important, and he certainly wasn't worth Black losing his freedom."

"So where do the Death Eater rumours come from?" Hermione asked.

"I have no idea," Severus admitted. "They sprung up after his arrest, and as I said everyone was only too happy to believe them. Even his friends in the Order believed he had betrayed them. I guess given who his family is, it was easy for people to think the worst. But I assure you, he's no friend of ours."

"Will his escape cause problems?" Harry asked.

"I guess that depends why he escaped, and where he is now," Severus replied. "I don't know what would have prompted him to escape, especially after all these years."

"Is it a coincidence that Black escapes days after our parents head off to try and organise a ritual what will return Father to full strength?" Hermione asked.

"I have no idea," Severus confessed, and both Hermione and Harry could tell the thought had crossed his mind and he was worried about it.

"Should we contact Mother and Father?"

"No, we'll not disturb them," Severus said to his sister. "Besides, they'll not be able to do anything. I think we just have to wait and see what happens with Black. There's a very good chance his escape won't even affect us."

"Does the fact I'm his godson not matter?" Harry asked. "Maybe his escape has something to do with me."

"If that was the case, surely he would have tried to escape two years ago," Hermione argued. "I read a couple of articles about you starting Hogwarts. Besides, you were his godson all those years ago when he became a killer. If he was bothered about you at all, he wouldn't have gone off the rails as he did. As far as he knew both your parents were dead and you had no-one, he should have stepped up and took you in. I don't think you're really that important to him, Harry."

"I have to say, I agree with Hermione," Severus told his son. "Black killed Pettigrew a few weeks after Lily and Potter died. In that time, he made no effort to take you in. I know that in his shoes, I would have done everything in my power to look after my godson. I certainly would have taken Draco in if anything had ever happened to Lucius and Narcissa. Hermione's right, he doesn't care about you, Harry."

"Good," Harry said with a slight snarl. "I don't want anything to do with anyone who was friends with the man who murdered my mother."

"Well hopefully you'll never run into Black," Severus said. He didn't say anything regarding Harry's accusations against James, as he still didn't actually know the truth of what had happened to Lily that fateful night. He hadn't thought James was capable of murder, but Lily was dead when he arrived at her house and no matter what the circumstances, Severus blamed James Potter for her death. If it hadn't been for him, she would still be with him and Harry.

"Let's hope so," Harry agreed. "Who wants to get mixed up with a convicted killer?"

"Anyway, enough about Black," Severus said, smiling at Harry and Hermione to try and hide his worries about Sirius. "I'm sure the Ministry will have him back in custody before long and he'll no longer be of any significance to anyone."

Despite Severus's words, no-one in the room quite believed them. Even though they turned their attentions back to what they'd previously been doing, there was a distinct chill in the air. Sirius Black had sent shockwaves around the room, and deep down they all had a feeling that they hadn't heard the last of him. Instinct was telling all three of them that Sirius Black would be a name they heard numerous times over the coming year.


	3. Chapter 3

After the news of Sirius Black's escape broke, not a day went by when there wasn't a fresh article in the paper about the criminal. Hermione devoured every article, and found a great deal of what she read mirrored what Severus had told her and Harry. The only difference was that the papers never mentioned Black's accusations against Pettigrew. When Hermione had asked Severus about Black's accusations, he'd revealed that only a few members of the Order heard the accusations and Pettigrew's confession and once Black was arrested people were only too happy to think that he'd bullied Pettigrew into making a false confession in order to switch the attention away from himself. Hermione had to wonder if everyone believed Black was guilty, or if he still had some support somewhere. She would like to think that if she'd been in the same position as Black that at least a few people she cared about believed in her enough to stand by her.

By the time Harry and Hermione went to stay with the Malfoys for the last week and a half of the holidays, there'd still be no official sighting of Black. There'd been plenty of rumours, but no positive sightings. With each day that passed without Black being spotted, Hermione became more convinced he had help somewhere. She didn't believe a wanted murderer, whose face was splashed all over the wizarding press and the muggle press, could escape even been spotted. She'd shared her theories with Harry and Draco, and while both boys agreed she was probably right, they weren't all that interested in talking about an escaped convict. Instead the boys were much more interested in drooling over the brand new broomstick that had just been released.

"Do you two have to make so much noise?" Hermione snapped at the pair.

They were all in the living room at the manor, hoping their Hogwarts letters would be arriving, and Hermione was trying to get a bit of peace and quiet. However, Draco and Harry was chattering loudly about the new broomstick as they flicked through a quidditch magazine.

"We weren't being that noisy," Harry argued.

"Yes, you were," Hermione answered with a small snarl. "Either be quiet, or go outside or something."

"Yes, Aunt Hermione," Harry retorted with a smirk, causing Draco to laugh beside him. "Sorry, Aunt Hermione."

"Don't call me that," Hermione spat through clenched teeth. She wasn't bothered by the fact she was technically Harry's aunt, but she hated it when he used the fact to taunt her, which he had just done.

"Then stop acting like an old fart, Aunt Hermione," Harry shot back.

"You stop acting like a little brat," Hermione retorted.

"Both of you stop acting like five year olds," Draco interrupted with an amused chuckle. "Here come the Hogwarts owls, anyway."

Stopping their bickering, Hermione and Harry looked up in time to see three of the Hogwarts owls soaring towards the manor. Draco got up and opened a window so the owls could drop the letters on the windowsill. Gathering the letters, Draco passed them out and the trio settled down to check what books they would need for the upcoming year.

"Have you seen this?" Harry asked, flicking through the couple of pages of parchment that listed everything they would need for the upcoming year. "Permission slips so we can visit Hogsmeade."

"Cool," Draco gushed, checking out the form. "I can't wait to check out Hogsmeade. I hear Honeydukes sells every sweet imaginable."

"You don't seem too happy," Harry said to Hermione, who was eying the letter with a sad look on her face.

"I'll not be able to go, will I?" She replied with a sigh. "The form requires a parent or guardian signature, and my parents are away. Somehow I doubt Severus's signature will work on my form."

"Hey, it won't work on mine either," Harry gasped. "Everyone thinks I live with the Dursleys, I'll need one of their signatures."

"That's easily sorted," Hermione pointed out. "Severus can go and visit them and sort your form in a second."

"I'm sure there's something he can do for you," Harry offered.

Hermione shrugged as she turned back to the lists of books they would need. "I wonder when we're going to go shopping."

"I can go and ask Mother," Draco said.

"Ask Mother what?" Narcissa asked as she came into the front room.

"When we can go shopping," Draco replied. "Our Hogwarts letters have arrived."

"Let me have a look." Narcissa took the letter from Draco as she had a look at what they needed to buy this year.

"I've also got a permission form for you to sign so I can visit Hogsmeade," Draco said.

"That reminds me, I have Hermione and Harry's forms," Narcissa said as she handed Draco his letter back. Waving her wand, she summoned the two forms and handed them to Harry and Hermione.

"Mother's signed this," Hermione remarked. "How?"

"Severus had the forms with him at the beginning of the holidays," Narcissa explained. "He knew about your parent's potential plans to go away, so he made sure everything was in place before they went. He also did the same with Harry's form. He visited the Dursleys and got them to sign it at the beginning of the holidays."

"See, I told you there'd be a solution," Harry said to a smiling Hermione.

"And what about shopping?" Draco asked his mother.

"We can go tomorrow afternoon," Narcissa announced, before she left the trio to entertain themselves for a while.

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

* * *

The following afternoon, Harry and Hermione were happily strolling around Diagon Alley arm in arm. They kept spotting Draco and Narcissa, but because they were in public they couldn't speak to them. After picking up all their other supplies, they made their way to Flourish and Blotts to pick up their books.

"I can't find this Monster Book of Monsters," Harry complained as they trooped around the shop for the third time.

"We'll have to ask at the desk," Hermione replied.

Double checking they had everything, the pair made their way to the cash desk to pay. There was only a short queue so they were soon at the front of the queue.

"We're looking for the Monster Book of Monsters," Harry said to the assistant behind the counter. "I don't suppose you know where we can find it, do you?"

"Unfortunately I do," The assistant grumbled. "Do you both want a copy?"

"Yes please," Hermione answered.

Harry and Hermione's eyes widened in shock when the assistant pulled on a pair of thick dragon-hide gloves and turned to a cage that was standing behind the desk. Taking a deep breath, the assistant opened the cage and plunged his hands inside. He pulled out one book and laid it on the counter before diving back in for a second book.

"Why are they tied with string?" Hermione asked as she warily eyed the two furry books on the counter.

"To keep them shut," The assistant replied. "Good luck with them, they're lethal."

"Are you saying they're not safe?" Hermione questioned with a frown.

"Put it this way, I wouldn't touch them unless I had to," The assistant retorted.

"Great," Harry grumbled as the assistant rang up their purchases and packed their books into bags. "Who the hell do you think is teaching Care of Magical Creatures?"

"Isn't she called Professor Grubbly-Plank?" Hermione questioned as they paid for their books and left the shop. "I'm sure I've seen her about the castle."

"Well she's got a strange taste in books," Harry complained. "Maybe we shouldn't have opted for her subject."

"If it's terrible we can always drop it again in sixth year," Hermione said with a shrug.

"Yeah, there's always that," Harry agreed. "Do you fancy getting an ice-cream before we have to leave? We have some time."

"That sounds great," Hermione replied as the pair set off to the ice-cream parlour.

After having an ice-cream each, the pair headed back to The Leaky Cauldron, where they exited the pub separately. Once they were out of the pub, they met up with Narcissa in a nearby alley. She'd already taken Draco home so she could now take the both of them back to the manor at once.

"Did you get everything?" Narcissa checked.

"Of course," Hermione replied.

Satisfied they weren't forgetting anything, Narcissa apparated the trio back to the manor. When they arrived back at the manor, they found Severus was waiting for them in the front room with Draco. Sitting in between the pair was a wicker pet basket, but they both ignored it as they greeted Harry and Hermione.

"Did you see that awful book we had to get for Care of Magical Creatures?" Draco immediately asked.

"Yeah, why do we have such a dangerous book?" Hermione asked.

"New Professor, well if you can call him that," Severus answered with an unimpressed snort. "I think Dumbledore has finally lost it. He's appointed Hagrid as the new Care of Magical Creatures Professor."

"Hagrid?" Harry questioned in disbelief. "The same Hagrid that never even finished his own education?"

"As I said, Dumbledore's lost the plot," Severus said with a shrug. "And as for the new Defence Professor, they haven't even shown their face up at the castle. Who knows what sort of disaster this one will turn out to be?"

"That school really does seem to be going downhill," Narcissa tutted.

"It wouldn't be if we'd managed to get rid of Dumbledore like we wanted," Hermione said. She was still bitter that the way things had turned out the previous year meant that Dumbledore had kept his job.

"I'm sure we'll get rid of him one day," Severus reassured his sister. "But for now, we don't need to dwell on things we can't change."

"Are you staying for dinner, Severus?" Narcissa asked.

"I will, if that's alright."

"Of course, I'll just go and inform the elves there's going to be one more for dinner." Narcissa gave Severus a smile, before sweeping out of the room and going to sort dinner.

"What's with the basket?" Harry asked, getting his eye on the wicker basket that sat between Draco and Severus. "Have you been buying a pet, Draco?"

"It's Hermione's birthday present," Severus answered. "It's from Father and Beth. They left me some money and asked me to get you something special. Although, I have to admit, Draco helped me pick him out."

"Him?" Hermione studied the basket closely. "What have you gotten me?"

"Open the basket and have a look," Severus said.

Kneeling down on the floor, Hermione opened the basket and a ginger cat with a squashed face sauntered out. The cat immediately rubbed itself against Draco's leg before making its way over to Hermione. For a few minutes the cat stood with his head's tilted to one side looking at Hermione, before it began nuzzling at her hand.

"He's gorgeous," Hermione cooed. "Does he have a name?"

"Crookshanks," Draco supplied. "He's part Kneazle so he's very intelligent."

"Why did you get a fully grown cat, why not a kitten?" Harry asked. "Kittens are cute, whereas that thing is ugly."

As if understanding the insult, Crookshanks turned to Harry and hissed loudly at him.

"You're in trouble now Harry, he won't like you after that," Draco chuckled as Hermione fussed over Crookshanks and told him he wasn't ugly. "The shopkeeper said that Crookshanks doesn't like many people and didn't stand much chance of getting a loving home. However, he seemed to take to me and I didn't have the heart to leave him behind. Besides, I knew Hermione would love him even though he's a grouchy thing."

"I do love him," Hermione said with a nod. "Thank you Draco, you picked perfectly."

Still holding Crookshanks in her arms, Hermione leant over gave Draco a hug and a peck on the cheek. When the normally cool blond blushed slightly and got flustered, Harry and Severus shared a conspiratorial smirk.

"Does anyone fancy checking out this Monster Book of Monsters more closely?" Draco asked in an attempt to return things to normal.

"Maybe later, I want to bond with Crookshanks," Hermione said. "I think I'll take him up to my room."

"There's a bag of stuff in the front hallway for him," Draco said. "It's got food, toys, that sort of stuff."

Thanking Draco yet again, Hermione headed off with Crookshanks. Picking up the cat's bag, she headed up to the room she always used when they stayed at the manor. Settling Crookshanks on the bed, she chatted away to him as she unpacked her school things. She then settled down on the bed with the cat, and stayed there until one of the elves popped up and announced dinner was ready.

"See you later, Crooks," Hermione called as she exited the room and headed off to join the others for dinner.


	4. Chapter 4

September the first found the trio arriving at Kings Cross Station, ready to begin another year at Hogwarts. Lucius had supervised Harry and Hermione using the muggle entrance to the platform, before joining his wife and son. If anyone asked they were just going to say that Hermione's mother had an urgent appointment, and had dropped Hermione off at the platform, but just couldn't stay to see her off. And of course they doubted anyone would ask any questions about Harry as for the previous few years his aunt and uncle hadn't been seen dropping him off.

"Harry! Hermione!"

Harry and Hermione shared a resigned look at the sound of their names being called, before they turned around and faked enthusiasm at spotting Ron and his family. With smiles on their faces, Harry and Hermione made their way over to the Weasleys. Ron had written to them a few days ago upon their return home, asking if they wanted to meet up in Diagon Alley, but since they'd already done their shopping they'd been able to brush him off.

"Hi, Ron," Harry greeted his friend. "How was Egypt?"

"Brilliant," Ron gushed with a wide smile. "I've got so much to tell you both."

"Hi, Harry," Ginny said with a simpering smile as she butted into the conversation.

"Hello Ginny," Harry replied, making sure he gave her no encouragement.

Ignoring Harry's lack of enthusiasm upon seeing her, Ginny flung her arms around Harry's waist and hugged him tightly. "It's so good to see you again. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here."

"Yeah well, I had some help," Harry muttered as he subtly disentangled himself from Ginny.

"Of course, Draco," Ginny said with a dreamy sigh.

The mention of Draco was enough to distract Ginny, and she started scouring the platform for the blond Slytherin. With Ginny off his back, Harry greeted the other Weasleys. He was quite happily chatting with the twins when Arthur took him to one side as Molly started ushering people onto the train.

"I don't know how much you're aware of what's being going on in the wizarding world over the last few months, Harry," Arthur began. "But I feel like I need to warn you. There's a very dangerous wizard escaped from prison, and he has a connection to you and your parents. This wizard betrayed your parents, leading to their deaths. Chances are he'll be caught before long, but I just wanted you to know the truth."

"Thank you," Harry said, rather surprised by the warning. Clearly the Weasleys were amongst those who believed the rumours about Sirius Black, despite the fact that they must have known him personally.

"Be careful, Harry," Arthur warned. "Now run along before you miss the train."

Suddenly realising everyone else was on board, Harry darted for the train. He'd just managed to haul his trunk onto the red engine, before it slowly started to pull out of the station. Wondering where Hermione had gone, he began pulling his trunk down the corridor. Finally he spotted Hermione's familiar curls, and when she spotted him, she waved him over to the compartment her and Ron had settled in.

"What were you and Dad talking about?" Ron asked as he helped Harry store his trunk over his head.

"He was just warning me about an escaped convict," Harry answered.

"Sirius Black," Ron whispered with a shudder. "It was all over the papers when we returned from Egypt, and Mum and Dad were clearly worried about it."

"I guess everyone's worried about a killer being on the loose," Hermione said as she settled down in the corner of the compartment and opened Crookshanks carry cage.

"What is that thing?" Ron demanded as Crookshanks sauntered out of his basket and curled up beside Hermione.

"This is Crookshanks," Hermione replied, narrowing her eyes at Ron as he glared at her cat.

"You can't have a cat," Ron protested. "What if he tries to eat Scabbers?"

"Does he look interested in your weedy little rat?" Hermione retorted. Scabbers was actually curled up on the seat behind Ron's head and Crookshanks hadn't even batted an eyelid at the sight of the rat.

"I'm sure we can all learn to get along," Harry said diplomatically, just as the door to the compartment slid open.

The trio automatically turned to the door, expecting to see one of their friends, but instead they were faced with an adult. The wizard in question was a quite shabby looking man with sandy brown hair. Apart from the witch that pushed the refreshment trolley around, they'd never seen an adult on the train so his appearance took them by surprise.

"Do you mind if I squeeze in here?" The wizard asked. "Everywhere else is rather full."

"Of course not," Harry answered, not really sure else he was supposed to say.

"Thank you, Harry." The wizard replied as he placed his battered case on the rack overhead and settled himself down next to Harry.

"How do you know my name?" Harry asked suspiciously as he slid as far away from the man as he could.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Remus Lupin, and I'm the new Defence against the Dark Arts Professor." Lupin smiled at the trio as if they should have heard of him.

"It's nice to meet you Sir," Harry replied politely. "But how do you know who I am?"

"I'm sure almost everyone knows who you are," Remus answered with a chuckle. "But I actually went to school with your parents, and I was good friends with them. You look exactly like James. Although you have Lily's eyes."

Harry and Hermione shared a quick amused smile at the remark that Harry looked like James. It was amazing what a pair of glasses did, especially combined with the fact everyone thought he was James's son. Those two simple things made sure people didn't look closely at Harry and notice the resemblance to Severus.

"How well did you know my parents?" Harry asked.

"Very well," Lupin replied. "James was one of my best friends. There were four of us who were all good friends. And of course, there was also Lily. We were all great friends."

Harry's eyes widened as he realised Lupin was the other friend Severus had mentioned when talking about Sirius Black. The big question was, what was his stance on Sirius Black? Did he believe Sirius was guilty, or did he believe in his friend's innocence?

"Did you want to hear some stories about them?" Lupin asked.

"That would be nice," Harry replied, before turning to Hermione and Ron. "You guys don't mind, do you?"

"No, I've got a book to finish," Hermione answered, pulling out her book.

Of course she wasn't actually going to read, but it was perfect cover so she could listen to what Lupin was saying to Harry. She instinctively didn't trust him, and she suspected he was deliberately trying to befriend Harry. Why else would a Professor be travelling up to school on the Hogwarts Express? Something was fishy, and Hermione suspected Harry also sensed it.

"I don't mind either," Ron added. "I think it's great that you can find out more about your parents."

Turning back to Lupin, Harry pretended to be interested as the Professor began to talk about James. Occasionally Lily was mentioned in his stories, but it was clear that Lupin was mainly James's friend. Surprisingly, Lupin mentioned Sirius several times and he seemed to harbour no animosity towards him.

"Isn't Sirius Black the murderer that's just escaped from Azkaban?" Ron interrupted. He'd been openly listening to the stories, but was confused by the mention of Sirius.

"Sirius isn't the person people think he is," Lupin replied. "True, he killed a man. But the man he killed was the one responsible for James and Lily's deaths. Sirius is no more a Death Eater than I am. He's a good man, and you need to remember that Harry."

"Have you seen him since he escaped?" Hermione asked, dropping the pretence of reading.

"Of course not," Lupin replied smoothly, although neither Harry nor Hermione thought he was telling the truth. They both thought he'd not only seen Black, but was most likely helping him evade the law.

Before either Harry or Hermione had a chance to press Lupin further, the train abruptly ground to a halt. As it did so, they realised for the first time that it had begun to rain. In fact it was now so dark outside, it looked more like the middle of the night.

"What's going on?" Ron asked warily as he peered out of the train window. "Why have we stopped?"

"We can't be at Hogwarts," Harry remarked. "We haven't been travelling for long enough."

"No, we're not at Hogwarts," Lupin said as he pulled out his wand and got to his feet. "You three stay in here, I'm going to try and find out what's going on."

When Lupin opened the door to the compartment, a cold breeze swept into the compartment. Up and down the corridor, people were poking their heads out of the compartments in an effort to see what was happening. Entering the corridor, Lupin began ordering students to return to their compartments. Despite no-one knowing who he was, the majority obeyed him just because he was an adult.

"What do you think's happening?" Hermione asked nervously.

"I don't know, but I don't like it," Harry muttered. "I don't know about anyone else, but I feel really strange."

"And cold," Hermione added with a shiver. "Why is it so cold?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders as he got to his feet and ignoring Lupin's advice, he poked his head out into the corridor. As he did so the doors to the train opened and a figure in black glided onto the train. Harry shrank back from the creature, but it had caught sight of him and it glided over to the open doorway of the compartment.

"Holy crap, what is that thing?" Ron gasped as Harry stumbled backwards into the compartment and almost fell back down on his seat.

Harry had no answer as the black figure hovered in the doorway. Beside Hermione, Crookshanks had woken up and was standing arching his back, hissing at the figure in the doorway. As the figure began to enter the compartment, Harry, Hermione and Ron all backed away as they felt a sense of foreboding sweeping through the compartment. As the trio wondered how to get away from the figure in black, a silver light suddenly burst into the compartment and speared through the figure. Immediately the figure fled the compartment, and the trio turned to find Lupin standing in the doorway.

"What was that thing?" Harry gasped as the atmosphere in the compartment began to return to normal.

"It's a Dementor," Lupin explained. "They guard Azkaban. I'm guessing they were searching the train for Sirius."

"Why search for Sirius on a train full of children?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," Lupin replied. Fishing around in his pockets, he pulled out a bar of chocolate and handed it to Harry. "Hand the chocolate around, it'll help with dispelling the feeling the Dementors have left you with. I'm going to make sure the train gets back underway safely and the rest of the Dementors have gone. I'll see you all up at school."

As Lupin left, Harry broke the chocolate bar into three and shared it with his friends. Lupin was right, and the second they ate the chocolate they began to feel like their normal selves again.

"I think I'm going to go and check on Ginny and the twins," Ron said as he got to his feet.

"And Percy?" Harry added, reminding Ron of his other sibling that was on the train.

"Yeah, and Percy," Ron said with an absentminded wave of his hand. "I'll not be long."

Once Ron had disappeared from the compartment, Hermione jumped up and shut the door behind him. She then turned back to Harry, the pair pleased to have the unexpected opportunity to compare notes on their new Professor.

"What do you think?" Harry asked his aunt.

"I think Lupin was on the train deliberately to meet you," Hermione replied.

"I thought the same," Harry said. "I also think he's helping Black."

"So do I," Hermione agreed. "In fact, I'm wondering if Black is hiding on the train somewhere."

"Really?" Harry's eyes widened at the thought he'd never even considered.

"Why else would the Dementors be searching the train? Why search a train load of children? It makes no sense, unless they really thought he was either on the train or someone who was on the train could help them find him."

Harry mused over Hermione's theory for the rest of the journey. When they got up to school her theory began to look increasingly likely as Dumbledore announced that the school would be playing host to the Dementors for the foreseeable future. The only reason Harry could see for them to be situated up at Hogwarts was if they genuinely thought they were going to catch Black. Something had them camping at Hogwarts, and he believed that something was the new Defence Professor, Remus Lupin.


	5. Chapter 5

Settling back in at Hogwarts was always a mixed experience for Harry and Hermione. On one hand, they loved attending the wizarding school and were thrilled to be back for another year, but on the other hand it signalled another year of acting the part of good little Gryffindors. Once again they were back to putting on an act and hiding their true nature. Although if Voldemort's plans to return to full strength worked, they weren't quite sure what would happen. Maybe they would then be able to be themselves for the last few years of school. However, right now things were the same as normal and Harry and Hermione had perfected the art of faking it.

Over breakfast on the first morning back, Hermione scanned the papers for fresh articles about Sirius Black. However, it was just a rehash of things that had been written earlier so she flicked through the rest of the paper, before discarding it. The second she placed the paper down on the table, Ron snatched it up and opened the paper up at an advert for the newest broom in the wizarding world, The Firebolt.

"I tried to get Dad to buy me one with his leftover winnings, but he refused," Ron said as he gazed longingly at the advert. "He said he couldn't buy me a new broom without buying for the others, and that would be too expensive."

"They are pretty pricy brooms," Harry remarked. "We were looking at them in Diagon Alley, and they cost a bomb."

"I'm sure some people will still get them," Ron grumbled, casting an envious look to where Draco and the Slytherins were sitting laughing over something. "I can just imagine Malfoy turning up with one, spoilt brat."

Hermione had to bite back her retort that she doubted Draco would be getting a new broomstick anytime soon. The second they'd heard about them both Harry and Draco had dropped hints about getting one, but neither Lucius nor Severus were biting. Lucius had just bought Draco and the entire Slytherin team new brooms the previous year, and Severus had bought Harry's broom in first year when he made the Gryffindor team. Both Lucius and Severus were insistent that their old broomsticks were perfectly adequate, and they weren't getting new ones anytime soon.

"Well there's nothing we can do about it," Harry replied with a shrug. "Maybe one day we'll have fancy new brooms."

"Why don't you buy yourself one?" Ron asked Harry. "Surely you have the money. Didn't your parents leave you a fortune in Gringotts?"

Harry frowned slightly as he wondered how Ron knew so much about his financial information. The only time he'd been to Gringotts with the Weasleys was before second year, and he'd been very careful not to let them see inside his vault and see just how much money was in there. He didn't want everyone knowing he had so much money in the bank, especially as he didn't consider it his and was still planning on paying what he used back when he could. As such, he didn't want to splash out on indulgent things like a new broomstick, he used the money for books and school supplies and that was all.

"I don't want to waste my money on frivolities," Harry replied.

"Very sensible Harry," Hermione said with a supportive nod of her head. "Just because you have money, doesn't mean you need to spend it in ridiculous fashion."

"A new broom is not ridiculous," Ron argued.

"It is when the broom you already own is perfectly adequate," Hermione shot back.

Just when Harry thought a full on argument was going to erupt between the pair, Professor McGonagall dropped their timetables on the table in front of them. Instantly forgetting about her spat with Ron, Hermione picked up her timetable to check she was taking all the classes she'd applied for. Luckily there'd been no problems with the timetables and she was now taking Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy and Ancient Runes.

"Hey great, we have a free period after lunch," Ron declared as he examined his own timetable.

"I don't," Hermione said. "I have Ancient Runes after lunch."

"Me too," Harry added. After a bit of deliberation he'd gone with Ancient Runes as his extra class as he thought it sounded slightly easier than Arithmancy.

"What do you mean, you too?" Ron frowned. "Since when are you taking Ancient Runes? I thought we were taking Divination and Care of Magical Creatures?"

"I'm still taking them," Harry said. "I just decided to take Ancient Runes as well. Didn't I mention it?"

"No, you did not," Ron muttered with a pout as he compared his timetable with Harry's and found Harry had two Ancient Runes lessons a week.

"Sorry, I thought I told you," Harry replied.

Instead of letting the matter drop, Ron spotted Professor McGonagall a bit further down the table and called their head of house over to them.

"How can I help, Mr Weasley?"

"I want to take Ancient Runes," Ron explained. "I forgot to mark it on my options sheet last year."

McGonagall raised a sceptical eyebrow at Ron, but when she spotted his timetable sitting alongside Harry's her expression changed into one of understanding.

"I'm sorry, we don't allow people to change their minds at the last minute," McGonagall said. "You had the forms for several weeks, and warned to think carefully about your choices. Besides, you don't have any of the relevant books."

"I could write to my Mum and ask her to get them for me," Ron offered. "And in the meantime I could share with Harry."

"We cannot make an exception for one person," McGonagall insisted. "If I allow you to take a subject you didn't select, I'd have to let anyone else pick up a new subject just so they could join their friends. I'm sorry, but you had your chance to pick your subjects last year. You'll have to make do with what you chose."

"Sorry Ron," Harry offered, hiding his smirk as McGonagall stalked off leaving Ron no further forward. "I really thought I'd told you about my decision."

"It's not like we can do anything about it now," Ron grumbled as he snatched his own timetable up and shoved it in his bag. "I'll see you in Charms."

Without another word, Ron jumped up and stormed out of the Great Hall. Harry and Hermione shared a bemused look at the redhead's antics, but since they were in the middle of the Great Hall they didn't say anything.

"What's up with Ron?" Dean asked from a few seats down.

"He's just upset because I'm taking Ancient Runes and he's not," Harry replied.

"He'll get over it," Seamus said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"I'm sure he will," Harry agreed as he turned back to his breakfast.

Once they'd finished eating, Harry and Hermione grabbed their bags and exited the Great Hall. With all the students milling around, the pair were able to have a whispered conversation about Ron. Neither of them had quite expected Ron to go storming off, but they had to admit it was quite amusing. Now all they had to do was wait and see just how long he could hold a grudge against Harry. Although judging by the fact he sat with Neville in Charms and practically ignored Harry, he was going to be good at holding a grudge.

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

* * *

Ron moped for the entire first day back, but the following day he was back to his normal self and was acting as though nothing had happened. Exchanging an amused look with Hermione, Harry said nothing as Ron chatted on as normal over breakfast.

"I can't wait to see what Lupin's like as a Professor," Ron gushed as the pair made their way to the first lesson of the day, which happened to be Defence against the Dark Arts. "I think he's going to be the best Defence Professor we've ever had."

"He hasn't got much to beat," Hermione scoffed. "Both Quirrell and Lockhart were rubbish teachers."

"At least Lupin seems to know what he's doing," Ron said. "He got rid of that Dementor on the train."

"Let's reserve judgement until the first lesson, shall we?" Hermione replied as she entered the Defence classroom.

"I don't think she likes Lupin for some reason," Ron whispered to Harry as the pair followed Hermione to their seats.

Surprised that Ron was so observant regarding Hermione's feelings towards Lupin, Harry merely shrugged in response as they took their seats beside Hermione. As the rest of the class filed in, Harry noticed Draco and his friends settling in the back of the room. Finally everyone was present, and Professor Lupin entered the classroom from his office and introduced himself.

"I know you've had two different Professors in your first two years, so I thought we'd begin by seeing what you know," Lupin announced. "I've arranged a small test."

"That's ridiculous," Theo moaned loudly. "You can't test us without letting us revise."

"You shouldn't need to revise anything on this test," Lupin replied as he handed the test around. "It's just a bit of basic knowledge you should have picked up in your first two years."

"Given our former Professors, I wouldn't hold my breath on that one," Draco muttered as Lupin placed the test in front of him.

"The results of the test, don't matter," Lupin assured the class. "It's just to give me a guide as to where you're at. Just do your best, that's all I'll ever ask of you."

For the next fifteen minutes the class was silent as they completed the test Lupin had set them. Once everyone was finished, Lupin gathered up the tests. As he did so, he glanced at some of the answers and was totally baffled by the difference in some people's answers. Some students seemed right up to date with what they should know, while some of the others knowledge seemed sorely lacking.

"Who can tell me anything about the Dementors?" Lupin asked, putting the tests to one side so he could go over them later.

"They're scary bastards," Theo offered.

"Language, Mr Nott," Lupin tutted. "But in principal, your assumption is right. They are scary. Does anyone know why they're so scary? Miss Granger?"

"Dementors feed on emotions," Hermione answered. After their encounter on the train, she'd naturally done some research about the creatures. "Especially negative emotions. They focus on the bad stuff in people's life and bring it right to the forefront. Prolonged exposure to them sucks away everything happy and pleasant in your mind, leaving you with only the bad stuff."

"Perfect Miss Granger, take ten points for Gryffindor," Lupin said with a smile. "Does anyone know how to counteract a Dementor? No? You counteract a Dementor by focusing on something positive and creating a Patronus? Does anyone know what a Patronus is?"

"It's a form of magic created from positive thoughts," Draco answered, without waiting for Lupin to call on him. "It manifests itself as a silver mist, and normally takes the shape of an animal of some sort. Once you have control of your Patronus and have strong enough magic, you could imbed it with a message and send it to people."

"Very good, Mr Malfoy," Lupin said with a nod. "Ten points for Slytherin."

"Will we be learning how to make a Patronus?" Neville asked.

"Not just yet," Lupin replied with a slight chuckle. "We'll see how you all come along during the year. I just thought a quick chat about Dementors could be handy considering they're going to be around for the foreseeable future."

"And why are they around?" Draco asked loudly. "Shouldn't they be off looking for Black? Or do they know something we don't? Are we safe in Hogwarts?"

"We are perfectly safe in Hogwarts," Lupin reassured the class as several of them got panicked looks on their faces at Draco's stirrings. "The Dementors presence around the school is merely precautionary."

"So what happens if we run into one?" Blaise demanded. "Do we just say excuse me and hope they understand us?"

"You won't run into them," Lupin replied. "They are going to be around the school, but not on the actual premises. You'll barely even notice they're here."

"Are they responsible for the bad weather?" Daphne asked. Since returning to school a couple of days ago, it had done nothing but rain, despite the papers reckoning the weather should still be bright and sunny as the last days of summer turned into autumn.

"Yes, they're affecting the weather," Lupin answered.

"Great, quidditch in the rain," Draco grumbled. "That'll be fun."

"I think that's enough about Dementors for the time being," Lupin announced, ignoring Draco's remarks about quidditch. "I'm sure we'll revisit the topic at a later point, but for now let's turn our attention to the first creature we're going to be dealing with; a Boggart. Who can tell me anything about a Boggart? Mr Nott?"

"They live in dark spaces, like cupboards and such. If you ever face a Boggart, it turns into your worst fear."

"Indeed it does," Lupin said. "Ten more points for Slytherin. How do you dispel a Boggart? Miss Brown?"

"There's a charm, called the Riddikulus charm," Lavender answered. "If performed correctly, it turns your worst fear into something light-hearted."

"Correct, ten points Miss Brown," Lupin said. "Of course, what really finishes off a Boggart is laughter. No Boggart can survive being laughed at. Turn to the chapter in your books on Boggarts, and read it quietly. I then want you to answer the questions on the board." With a flick of his wrist, a dozen questions appeared on the blackboard at the front of the classroom. "You never know, if we're lucky I'll find a Boggart around the castle and we can have some first-hand experience."

Settling down at his desk, Lupin began to study the earlier tests he'd administered as the students got to work on their first assignment for him. By the end of the class, he'd decided that the third years needed a lot of work to bring them up to speed. Luckily they seemed to be a bright bunch on the whole, and he was confident he could get them back to where they should be in the curriculum.

"I think I'm going to like Defence this year," Ron remarked as the class ended and he exited the room with Harry and Hermione. "I hope Lupin does find a Boggart. That would be so cool."

"Yeah," Hermione replied without any enthusiasm. She wasn't keen on facing something that would reveal her worst fear as at the moment that would be her parents getting killed, and everyone witnessed her fears it meant her secret about who she really was would be out.

"You're not scared, are you?" Ron asked with a laugh. "What are you so afraid of?"

"I don't know what my biggest fear is," Hermione lied. "What's yours, Ronald?"

"Spiders," Ron answered with a shudder, before horror filled his face. "Damn, I don't want to face a spider. Let's hope Lupin can't find a Boggart."

Chuckling at Ron's change of attitude, Harry and Hermione headed off to the next lesson with the redhead. They would face the problem of a Boggart if and when they had to deal with one, but there was no point worrying over something they had no control over. For now, they would just wait and see what else Lupin had in store for them over the coming year.


	6. Chapter 6

Settling back into school was a lot easier for Draco than it was for his two friends. While Draco obviously missed Hermione and Harry, he still had a lot of genuine friends in Slytherin that he enjoyed spending time with. Over the holidays he hadn't seen much of Theo and Blaise, so for the first few days he spent the majority of his free time with them. However, by the middle of the week he'd managed to visit the hidden room in the library and spend some time with Harry and Hermione.

Hermione filled him in on what they suspected about Lupin, and asked him to try and speak to Severus about the situation. Luckily it was easy for Draco to grab a few minutes with his godfather, and he didn't need much of a conversation with Severus to know he wasn't at all impressed with Lupin's appointment as the Defence Professor. When Draco mentioned Hermione's theories about Lupin helping Black, Severus wasn't the slightest bit surprised and offered his own opinion that Hermione was most likely right. He also implied that Lupin had another secret he was hiding, but he refused to say anything more when Draco pressed him. Instead, he told his godson that all secrets were revealed in time and ended the conversion.

Of course, Draco told his two best friends of the mysterious conversation he'd had with Severus and the speculation began over what Lupin's other secret could be. By the end of the week they'd had three lessons with him, and were still no further forward in working out what his secret was. However, Hermione was determined to uncover it and Draco knew that if that's what she planned on doing then that's what she would do.

By Friday, there was only one lesson the third years hadn't yet had; Care of Magical Creatures. Draco had been looking forward to the lesson, but his enthusiasm had dimmed following the revelation that Hagrid would be teaching the class. Draco still couldn't understand how he was qualified enough to teach a lesson, and he was hoping he'd be so inept that his father could get him sacked, or at the very least cause major problems for Dumbledore regarding his choice of staff.

With only one Care of Magical Creatures lesson a week, it was scheduled directly after lunch and it lasted all afternoon. Luckily the morning lessons were much more to Draco's liking. His day started off in Potions, then transferred to Herbology and just before lunch it was time for Arithmancy.

Arithmancy was only a small class, and like Ancient Runes, all four houses were combined in one group. Also like Ancient Runes, Blaise and Theo took the class alongside Draco. It meant he couldn't associate with Harry and Hermione in Ancient Runes and Hermione in Arithmancy, but at least they were sharing a class without having to put up with Weasley. Both Ancient Runes and Arithmancy involved working with a partner, and while in Ancient Runes the students were left to pick their own partner, in Arithmancy partners were sorted using the alphabetical order they appeared on the register. That meant Draco was working with Theo in the subject, while Hermione was partnered with Daphne Greengrass.

"So what's it like working with Granger?" Theo asked Daphne as the Slytherins headed down to lunch.

"Fine," Daphne answered with a shrug. "She's not too bad actually. I could really like her if she wasn't a muggleborn."

"Is she not an annoying know-it-all?" Blaise questioned.

"She does know almost everything, but it's not as annoying when it just the two of you," Daphne replied. "As I said, if it wasn't for her unfortunate blood status, she'd be pretty okay to have as a friend. However, she's merely my Arithmancy partner, nothing more."

Before the boys could ask her more questions, Daphne entered the Great Hall and joined Pansy for lunch. Knowing Pansy would just drive them mad with her insults aimed towards Hermione, the boys dropped the subject as they settled down to eat. Instead, they turned their attention to the upcoming Care of Magical Creatures lesson.

"I'm seriously having second thoughts about this class," Theo grumbled. "Just look at the book we had to get."

"It's terrible, isn't it," Blaise agreed. "I was stupid enough to untie the string when I got home. The bloody thing went wild. Do you know it's got teeth? It completely shredded my Mum's curtains, she went ballistic."

"I nearly lost my finger," Theo said. "It came within millimetres of biting me. Luckily I got out the way in time. However, it took me ages to shut it again. I had to wrestle it shut."

"I had to jump on mine to shut it," Draco added.

He and Harry had actually had a right battle when they'd tried to examine his copy of the book. Like Theo, they'd almost lost their fingers when they opened it and once it was open it went wild. They'd ended up kicking it on the floor, where it had destroyed an entire rug before hiding under Draco's bed. They'd had to lure the book out with one of Harry's shoes, and while the book was eating the shoe, they'd jumped on it and tied it back up with one of Draco's belts. Of course the pair had ended up in trouble for destroying a rug and one of Harry's shoes.

"This is going to be a fun lesson," Blaise muttered. "I bet someone gets mauled by their book before the end of class."

"A galleon says it's going to be either Longbottom or Weasley," Theo laughed.

"Pick one, and you're on," Blaise said.

"Longbottom."

"I'll take Weasley then. Are you in Draco?" Blaise asked, turning to his friend.

"Nah, you've taken the two useless ones," Draco replied. "Give me the money, and I'll officiate."

"What happens if we're both wrong?" Theo asked as he and Blaise both handed over a galleon to the blond.

"We use the money to buy sweets when we visit Hogsmeade," Draco answered with a grin. "Or it rolls over to your next wager. Your pick."

"I vote sweets," Theo said.

"Me too," Blaise agreed. "Although, it's not going to matter as I'm going to win."

For the rest of lunch, Blaise and Theo bickered about who was going to win the bet. Refusing to get sucked into his friends arguments, Draco finished his lunch and popped an apple in his bag in case he got peckish during Care of Magical Creatures. With a proper Professor he wouldn't dream of eating a snack in class, but he doubted Hagrid would have the gumption to punish him. Either way, it was going to be fun to find out just how far he could push the half giant before he snapped.

Once lunch was over the Slytherins headed back down to the dungeons to grab their Monster Book of Monsters. Normally they would have packed their books that morning, but there was no way they were going to carry around such a vicious book all day. It was bad enough that they had to do so now.

"I am not putting this bag on my back," Theo said as he exited the boys' dorms carrying his bag out in front of him as though it contained a bomb. "Knowing my luck the book would rip through the bag and tear my jumper to shreds."

"You're so dramatic, Theo," Draco laughed as he swung his own bag onto his shoulder and led the way out of the common room.

"Better to be dramatic than dead," Theo shot back.

Draco rolled his eyes at his friend as they headed outside. The lesson was taking place down beside the hut where Hagrid lived, although looking around Draco couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. By the time they arrived at the hut, most of the Gryffindors were present and Hagrid was standing counting the students as they arrived.

"Follow me into the forest," Hagrid called when the last of the class arrived.

"Not again," Theo whined. "Why do we always have to go into the forest?"

Luckily they didn't have to go far before they reached a clearing. Along the back of the clearing was a brick wall, and if you looked through the trees right behind the wall you could see the castle. Draco immediately made his way to the wall and sat himself down, dropping his bag to the floor beside him. Meanwhile the rest of the students, gathered in the clearing in front of the wall where Draco was sitting.

"Hagrid, how do you open this thing?" Ron called from the front of the group as he held his unopened book up for everyone to see.

"First you need to remove the string, dipshit," Theo called.

"No, don't," Hagrid corrected. "First you need to stroke the spine of the book. You have to let it know you're friendly before you can open it, otherwise it attacks."

"Attacks?" Ron squeaked, looking warily at the large book in his hands.

"Just pull the string, Weasley," Blaise called, egging the redhead on.

Ron was clearly in two minds over what to do as everyone watched him, eager to see how he was going to proceed. Finally he took Hagrid's advice and stroked the spine twice before pulling off the string. However, stroking the spine twice obviously hadn't been sufficient because as soon as the string was off the book began gnashing its teeth at Ron. Squealing like a little girl, Ron dropped the book and promptly swore loudly as it bit his toe.

"I'm crippled," Ron cried, hopping around on one foot.

"You'll be okay Ron, just sit down," Hagrid said. "Harry, catch that book."

"Yeah Potter, catch the book," Theo laughed. "Don't forget to watch your fingers."

Despite the fact Harry was his best friend, Draco couldn't help but laugh as he chased after the book, all the time trying to avoid it biting his toes. Finally the book ran into a tree and Harry took the opportunity to pounce on it. Quickly he handed the book back to Hagrid, who calmed it down and gave it back to a wary looking Ron.

"I suppose we should get on with the lesson," Hagrid said as he nervously tugged at his beard.

"Yeah, because that's going to be so much fun," Draco drawled quietly. Fishing around in his bag, he pulled out his apple and took a large bite as he settled back to see what would happen next.

Seemingly oblivious to the blond Slytherin munching away at the back of the lesson, Hagrid put his fingers in his mouth and gave a low whistle. There was rustling in the trees behind him, and everyone stepped back as a large creature walked into the clearing. The creature had the body of a horse, a head like a big bird with a sharp beak and a set of very large wings.

"This is Buckbeak," Hagrid said proudly. "He's a Hippogriff. Hippogriffs are nervous creatures, so you must gain their trust before approaching. Do we have any volunteers to say hello to Buckbeak?"

As a group the class took another step backwards. Hagrid frowned at his lack of volunteers and he began searching for someone to help him out.

"Harry, you'll volunteer, won't you?" He asked, smiling hopefully at the young boy.

Even from the back of the group, Draco felt Harry's reluctance as he stepped forward. As Hagrid issued instructions, Harry bowed to the Hippogriff and waited for its response. After a nervous second where it did nothing, the creature suddenly bent its head in Harry's direction. Hagrid excitedly claimed it meant the creature liked Harry and he all but pushed his student forward so he was standing next to the creature.

"Give him a stroke, Harry," Hagrid urged.

Slowly Harry reached out and timidly stroked Buckbeak's neck. As Harry was stroking the Hippogriff, Hagrid stepped forward and without a word of warning he picked Harry up and plonked him on top of the creature. The whole class gasped in shock at Hagrid's actions and Draco noted how Harry clung tightly to the creature as he was unceremoniously dumped atop of it.

"Have a ride, Harry. Just hold on tight, and don't pull his feathers out." Grinning at Harry, Hagrid slapped Buckbeak's rear and the animal surged forward before taking off into the air.

Harry's loud squeal could be heard by all the students as they ducked when the Hippogriff soared over their heads. After circling the group a couple of times, the creature suddenly swept off over the forest. Draco watched the entire incident in shock, and a glance at Hermione showed she was just as taken aback by the entire thing. As much as they didn't think Hagrid was Professor material, neither of them thought he would just send Harry off on the back of a potentially dangerous creature without any warning.

"I am not getting on the back of that thing," Theo called loudly as the class watched for Harry returning. "It doesn't look safe at all."

"Maybe Potter will fall in the Black Lake," Pansy cackled.

To keep up appearances, Draco smirked at Pansy's remark, but he certainly didn't feel like laughing. The sound of Harry's cries had vanished long ago, and there wasn't even the slightest hint that he was anywhere nearby. For all they knew that beast of Hagrid's could have spirited him well away from Hogwarts. Or Pansy could be right, and Harry could have had a nasty accident.

"Hagrid, when will Harry be back?" Hermione asked.

"Don't worry Hermione, he'll be fine," Hagrid reassured the worried witch. He then began to talk about Hippogriffs, ignoring the fact that Harry wasn't back yet.

Fifteen minutes later, a small shape appeared in the distance and as the class watched the shape came nearer and they saw it was Harry on the back of Buckbeak. As the Hippogriff came into land, Harry's laughter rang around the clearing and everyone could see from his expression that he'd had a great time.

"That was awesome," He declared as Hagrid helped him down from the Hippogriff.

"I was so worried about you," Hermione said, giving Harry a gentle slap on the arm before pulling him into a hug.

"Please, anyone could ride that thing," Draco scoffed as he jumped off the wall and approached the creature.

"Malfoy don't," Hagrid warned as the blond approached Buckbeak without first bowing to him.

Turning back to face Hagrid and the rest of the class, Draco laughed as he threw his hands out. "What's it going to do? Peck me to death?"

Seconds later, his laughter stopped as he felt as breeze on his back and the rest of the class gasped out loud. Draco moved to turn around but he hadn't even gotten half way when his left arm was struck by Buckbeak's hoof. When it was struck a second time in almost the same place, Draco stepped backwards and losing his footing he went tumbling to the floor. Unfortunately his fall put him right underneath the Hippogriff and Draco felt genuine fear as he thought he was going to be trampled on. Luckily Hagrid got to the Hippogriff before he stomped on him completely. Pulling Buckbeak to one side, Hagrid soothed the creature while Draco clung onto his arm in agony. It definitely felt like there were broken bones in his arm, not that the stupid Professor gave a toss, he was more concerned with his precious Hippogriff.

"Hagrid," Hermione called authoritatively. "You've got an injured student. You have to take him to the hospital wing."

"Right, of course," Hagrid said with a nod. "Class dismissed," He called as he hurried over to Draco. "Malfoy, can you get up?"

"Don't you dare touch me," Draco snarled when he half-giant made to help him up. "Just you wait until my father hears about this."

Managing to get himself to his feet, Draco made sure Theo had his bag before stalking off towards the school. Hagrid hurried along behind his student, and the Slytherins followed just behind him. Together the group all headed up to the hospital wing, but upon seeing so many students Madam Pomfrey dismissed everyone but Draco and Hagrid.

"You've got two cracked bones," Madam Pomfrey told Draco as she examined him. "I'll give you a potion to mend them, but I want to put your arm in a sling. Come back tomorrow morning, and I'll remove the sling and see how you're getting on."

"Will he be okay?" Hagrid nervously asked Madam Pomfrey.

"It's not life threatening," Madam Pomfrey answered. "But he's going to be in a lot of pain tonight."

"I should go and tell Professor Dumbledore," Hagrid said with a sigh.

"Tell him to expect to hear from my father," Draco called after the new Care of Magical Creatures Professor as he headed for the door. "I'm sure he'll have plenty to say about my injury."

Draco got the satisfaction of seeing Hagrid gulping nervously and paling before the half giant left the hospital wing. Turning his attention back to Madam Pomfrey, he took all the potions she handed to him and promised to be back in the morning. He then set off to go and make sure word of his injury spread around school. If he played his cards right, he would get a lot of sympathy in the coming days. Not to mention the trouble Lucius was going to cause when he informed his father of what had happened.


	7. Chapter 7

Hermione sat observing Draco with a scowl on her face. The blond Slytherin was currently holding court with his fellow snakes over at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. Despite the fact Hermione hadn't spoken to Draco since the incident with Buckbeak, Harry had managed to bump into the blond that morning and get some assurances that he wasn't badly hurt. Hermione wasn't at all shocked to see Draco was still wandering around with his arm in a sling as he continued to play up his injury from the previous afternoon, nor did she object to him doing so as it would only add to the problems Dumbledore was going to face having Hagrid as a Professor. However, she wasn't at all impressed that Pansy Parkinson had latched herself to Draco's side and was practically drooling over the blond boy.

"Pathetic," Hermione muttered to herself as she watched Pansy smile sweetly at Draco.

"If you don't stop glaring at Parkinson, people will start to talk," Harry warned her from where he was sitting at her right hand side.

The pair were only talking quietly and weren't worried about anyone overhearing them as there was no-one sitting close enough to hear them and they would spot anyone approaching. Most people had vacated the Great Hall after lunch, but Harry and Hermione had stuck around to do some homework, or at least that was the plan until Hermione had gotten her eyes on Pansy and ended up getting distracted. Fortunately, no-one but Harry was paying Hermione any attention as none of their other friends were around. Luckily Ron and Ginny had gone off to practice their flying as they had high hopes of joining the quidditch team. Of course, Harry knew it still wasn't going to happen, but he wasn't going to say anything and lose a precious few hours away from the redheads.

"She's just so annoying," Hermione hissed. "I mean, look at her. She's all over Draco like a rash."

"To be fair, it doesn't seem to be bothering him," Harry retorted. The instant the words left his mouth he regretted them as Hermione gave him an icy look that gave him chills. "Or he could just be playing a part," He hastily added. "You know like we do when we pretend to be good little Gryffindors."

"I don't care if he's enjoying himself," Hermione defiantly replied with a shrug of her shoulder. "Why should I care if Pansy bloody Parkinson is drooling all over him? Let Draco deal with her, I'm not bothered."

"Of course you're not," Harry muttered, lowering his head so Hermione didn't see the smirk on his face.

"You know, I thought something would have been done about yesterday," Hermione said, changing the subject slightly. "How can a student be injured and nothing happens?"

"Beats me." Harry shrugged. "Just look at last year. Students were being petrified left right and centre, and nothing happened for months. Let's face it, Dumbledore's not exactly the best Headmaster."

"No, he's not," Hermione agreed as she turned her attention back to the Slytherin table and couldn't help but snarl slightly when she saw Pansy reaching up and brushing a wayward strand of hair away from Draco's eyes. "Damn Parkinson, someone ought to teach her to keep her hands to herself."

"If I didn't know any better, I would say someone has a crush," Harry teased.

"It does look that way, doesn't it," Hermione said, still watching Pansy and missing Harry's point completely. "Personally, I think Draco can do better than Parkinson."

"I'm sure he can and will," Harry said, inwardly chuckling at how dense Hermione could be at times. For someone so smart, she either hadn't noticed her feelings for Draco were taking a romantic turn, or she just didn't want to admit it. Personally, Harry wasn't sure which one was most likely as Hermione was stubborn enough to pretend her feelings hadn't changed, but she was also oblivious enough to think nothing had changed between her and Draco.

Hermione sighed and took one more look at Draco and Pansy, before turning her attention to the books piled in front of her. "Well, this homework isn't going to do itself. If we get going, we can do a fair bit this afternoon and not have to do as much next week after classes."

"A bit more free time would be nice," Harry said as he pulled out his own books. With three extra classes in his schedule it meant homework was likely going to take several hours longer a week, and they'd only been back a week. He was dreading to think how much homework they'd have as the weeks progressed and the homework assignments got tougher and longer.

Deciding it would be easier if they worked on the same homework assignment at the same time, they picked a subject and got going. Because they were doing the same homework they were able to share one book and occasional toss ideas around. As they worked, Hermione found herself relieved that Ron wasn't around. When Ron was around she was very careful what she said as he had a tendency to just copy her, whereas Harry didn't need to copy her as he was more than capable of doing his own work. Hermione suspected that Ron didn't really realise just how bright Harry was as her nephew tended to play down his abilities when he was with Ron. One day, Ron and everyone else, was going to get a major shock regarding Harry. Not only was he someone completely different to what they all thought, but he was also so much smarter and slyer than anyone realised.

For nearly an hour the pair worked on their homework, with only a few glances over at the Slytherin table. Despite the Great Hall supposedly been for those people wanting to study, the Slytherins didn't actually seem to be studying. They had their books out, but neither Harry nor Hermione had seen any of them pick them up, instead the group were happy to just chat to each other and have a laugh.

"That's that done," Harry declared as he slammed the Transfiguration book shut they'd been using.

"Only half a dozen more to do," Hermione joked as she finished off her last paragraph and began to check over her work for mistakes.

Hermione had barely begun to check her work when the doors to the Great Hall opened and Severus strolled in. He immediately made his way to the Slytherin table and said something to Draco which caused the blond to abandon his friends and get to his feet.

"I wonder what's going on," Harry said.

Hermione didn't get a chance to reply before Dean and Seamus came into the Great Hall, looking shocked. The pair quickly made their way over to Harry and Hermione as Draco and Severus exited the hall.

"Malfoy's father is out there," Dean confided.

"And he looked mad," Seamus added. "I wouldn't like to cross him, he looks pretty scary."

Harry and Hermione shared a look at the news Lucius was up at Hogwarts. They were both thrilled that he was here and they knew he was going to create a fuss, however they were frustrated that they would have to wait and try and catch Draco to find out what had happened. Sometimes the act they had to put on could hinder the rate at which they could get information, and all they could do was be patient. They'd find out what was going on eventually.

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

* * *

Humming happily to himself, Draco entered the library and made his way to the secret room Hermione had found in their first year. After his father's visit he was dying to talk to Hermione and Harry and he was hoping one or both of them would be in the library before dinner. Once dinner was finished, he didn't think he'd be able to get away from his friends so he was hoping to find his two best friends in residence. Hopefully they'll have made their way to the room after witnessing his departure from the Great Hall, knowing it was the best place for them to catch up. Luckily for Draco, the trio were all on the same wave length and when he entered the room he found both Harry and Hermione lounging around.

"Hey," He called as he flopped down next to Harry on the sofa.

"Managed to drag yourself away from your fan club, have you?" Hermione asked.

Draco arched his eyebrow at Hermione's catty tone, while Harry snorted quietly beside him. "Fan club?" He queried.

"Pansy," Harry supplied. "We were watching her earlier."

"She's almost as bad as the Weasley girl is with you," Draco groaned. "I suppose that's the down side to playing on my injured arm."

"How is your arm?" Harry asked, noticing the blond was still in his sling.

"It aches a bit, but it's practically fine," Draco replied. "I'm just exaggerating slightly. Poor Madam Pomfrey can't work out why I'm not feeling better."

"What happens if she makes you go to hospital?" Harry questioned. Draco had the sympathy because of his injury, but that would disappear if people found out he was exaggerating his injury.

"She won't," Draco replied confidently. "In a few days I'll be well enough to remove the sling. Although my poor arm might still play up from time to time."

"You're terrible," Hermione laughed.

"I try," Draco said with a grin.

Harry laughed at Draco as he playfully elbowed his best friend in the ribs. "Drama queen. Are you planning on telling us what happened with your father?"

"It was brilliant," Draco announced with a smirk. "He gave Dumbledore a right mouthful about the slack job the Professors are doing. He then demanded something was done about Hagrid and that awful beast of his."

"Something like what?" Hermione questioned.

"He asked for Hagrid to be sacked and the Hippogriff to be destroyed," Draco answered.

"That's not fair," Hermione interrupted with an angry shout. "You were an idiot, and Buckbeak doesn't deserve to die for that. Yes, Hagrid should be sacked and he never should have brought such a dangerous creature into lessons, but Buckbeak doesn't deserve to die."

"Relax, Hermione," Draco said soothingly. "I said that's what Father asked for, not what he got or even what he expected to get. He never had any intention of getting the Hippogriff killed, he just said that to wind Hagrid and Dumbledore up. Hagrid was almost crying at the thought of that creature being put down."

"So what is happening?" Harry asked. He was also relieved that Buckbeak wasn't going to be hurt as he'd actually enjoyed himself on the flying beast.

"There's going to be an official hearing at the Ministry," Draco explained. "Both my father and Hagrid will have a few months to prepare their cases. In the meantime, Hagrid is on probation and has to have every creature he uses in his lesson double checked by Dumbledore or another senior member of staff. As for the Hippogriff, he can stay at Hogwarts but he'd not allowed anywhere near another student. One more injury either through the Hippogriff or in Care of Magical Creatures and Dumbledore and Hagrid are in big trouble."

"What do you think will happen at the hearing?" Hermione questioned.

"Father will push for Hagrid to lose his Professors position, and he'll ask for the Hippogriff to be rehoused somewhere it won't be a danger to anyone. Of course the final decision will rest with the Minister and the rest of the panel conducting the hearing, but my money's on Father getting what he wants."

"I'd back Lucius any day," Harry said with a nod.

"With a bit of luck we'll have rid of Hagrid by the end of the term," Draco said with a smirk. "And that will be one big, black mark against Dumbledore. It doesn't look good for the Headmaster to have to sack a Professor after only one term."

"And if we can prove Lupin is helping Black, we can get rid of him as well," Hermione added. "Dumbledore's track record with Defence Professors is abysmal, and add that to the mess with Hagrid and it doesn't look good for him. Maybe it's time Lucius started to start stirring the pot amongst the other parents. Could the Ministry ignore things if a lot of the parents voiced their concerns about Dumbledore?"

"Knowing Dumbledore he'll talk his way out of things," Harry muttered grumpily. "The man seems to live a charmed life. Everyone thinks he's such a great man, when really he's just a master manipulator. I wouldn't trust that man with my life."

"Harry's right," Draco said, sounding a word of caution to his female friend. "Dumbledore still holds a lot of sway and influence over the Ministry and the wizarding public in general. Getting rid of him might not be so easy."

"We have to try though," Hermione insisted. "Just think what we could do if he wasn't in charge any more. If Father comes back to full strength over the next few months, and Dumbledore is gone from Hogwarts, a lot of things can change. We could attend school as ourselves, Harry. No more pretending to be people we're not."

"That sounds great, but we can't count on it happening," Harry cautioned. "Let's just wait and see what the rest of the year holds, Hermione."

Despite his words of caution, Harry couldn't help but mull over the thought Hermione had planted into his head. For the rest of the day all he could think about was what it would be like to attend Hogwarts as his true self, son of Severus and grandson of Voldemort. He would like nothing more than to shed the name Potter and the association to James, but he wasn't going to get too overexcited in case it didn't happen. He knew that sometimes in life things didn't go according to plan, and all they could really do was live day by day and just wait and see what was going to happen as the year unfolded.


	8. Chapter 8

After the action of the first week, the following weeks were slightly dull in comparison. The trio got settled in with their new schedules and new subjects, and classes ran as normal. Draco nursed his injured arm for almost another week before removing the sling, although he did occasionally complain about the pain, making sure no-one forget his plight. Meanwhile, Harry was also back in quidditch training for the new season. The Gryffindor captain, Oliver Wood, was in his final year and he wanted nothing more than to win the cup and in his opinion that meant practising as much as possible. As Harry had already predicted, Ron didn't make the team as there wasn't any spare slots. In fact Oliver was so pleased with the team he had the previous year that he didn't even bother holding try-outs.

After a couple of weeks where nothing out of the ordinary happened, Hermione was taken off guard when she was enjoying morning break with Harry and Ron and Ron suddenly paled and pointed to a large hill that overlooked the school.

"It's the grim," He whispered fearfully.

"What?" Hermione asked with a frown as she looked to where Ron was pointing and spotted a large, seemingly wild, black dog standing atop of the hill.

"Divination," Harry supplied. "Apparently if you see the grim, death will follow."

"How cheery," Hermione muttered with a roll of her eyes.

"It's real, Hermione," Ron insisted. "You shouldn't mock magic."

"I'm not mocking magic," Hermione argued. "I just think Divination is a waste of time. Prophecies and predictions are always open to interpretation, it's not solid fact. Personally, I prefer things that are more grounded and are proven to be reliable. Seer's are not reliable."

"Prophecies are real," Ron argued. "There's a whole room at the Ministry where a recording of every prophecy is stored."

"And I bet the majority of them haven't come true," Hermione retorted as she mentally filed away the information about the Ministry. She knew her father still wanted to check out the prophecy that Dumbledore was so convinced concerned Harry.

"I don't know," Ron admitted sheepishly. "But they might have."

"And they might not have," Hermione shot back, refusing to let Ron have the last word.

"Will you two stop it," Harry groaned. "It's nearly time for Defence, let's get going."

Ron shot one more worried look at the large dog before taking off towards the school. Harry and Hermione also took a puzzled look at the dog before they followed Ron. Neither of them had ever seen wild dogs around Hogwarts before, and they were curious about where it had come from. However, their curiosity about the dog had to wait as the bell sounded, signalling the end of break time.

When they entered the Defence classroom, Hermione stopped in shock at the sight that greeted them. All the tables and chairs had been pushed to the side of the room, and standing at the front of the classroom was a wooden wardrobe. Lupin was standing beside the wardrobe with a grin on his face and he urged the students to just gather in the centre of the room.

"I don't like this," Hermione whispered to Harry. She'd almost forgotten Lupin's promise to try and find a boggart for them to face, but it looked like he'd gone and done it.

Sure enough when the entire class was gathered, Lupin happily announced that there was a boggart in the wardrobe. He then explained that one by one they would face the boggart and overcome it. For a couple of minutes, they ran over the rules of facing a boggart before Lupin decided they should start.

"Miss Patil, would you like to go first?" Lupin asked.

"Okay," Parvati replied as she shared a nervous look with her best friend, Lavender Brown.

With Lupin encouraging her, Parvati stepped up so she was standing in front of the wardrobe. Instinctively the rest of the class stepped backwards as Lupin raised his wand and the doors of the wardrobe sprung open. No-one quite knew what to expect and everyone was rather shocked when a large cobra slithered out from the wardrobe.

"Just stay calm and remember the charm," Lupin urged Parvati when she let out a cry of terror at the sight of the creature moving towards her. "You can do it, Parvati."

Parvati nodded as she raised her wand and took a deep breath. "Riddikulus!" When nothing happened, she turned to Lupin with panic etched all over her face.

"Try again," Lupin pressed. "And remember, think funny. Humour is what defeats a boggart."

Parvati took another deep breath, before casting the spell again. This time the snake hissed slightly before it shimmered into a clown in a jack-in-the-box. Parvati giggled at the sight and turned to the rest of the class with a proud smile on her face.

"Excellent," Lupin cried. "Mr Thomas, you go next."

While Parvati slipped back into line beside Lavender, Dean stepped forward to stand in front of the boggart. Instantly the jack-in-the box flickered and changed shape, turning into a disembodied hand. A few people squealed slightly at the sight of the hand as it crawled around the floor.

"Go on Dean," Lupin urged when Dean merely looked at the hand in shock.

"Riddikulus!" Dean cried, and the hand was immediately caught in a mousetrap.

Seamus stepped up to face the boggart next and it instantly turned into a banshee. One spell later the banshee has lost her voice, and Seamus was laughing at her as she tried to make a sound but had no luck. When Seamus stepped back, Lavender took her turn. Her boggart turned into a mummy, and she foiled it by having it trip up on its own bandages.

"You're all doing great," Lupin enthused. "Mr Weasley, it's your turn now."

With a nervous gulp, Ron stepped forward and the mummy on the floor grew into a large, furry black spider. With shaking hands, Ron raised his wand to try and stop the boggart but his fear was still too strong for the humour to break through. Of course the Slytherins all found Ron's inability to get rid of the spider amusing, and the more they laughed at him the more he struggled.

"Be quiet," Lupin snapped at the laughing Slytherins before turning his attention to Ron. "Come on Ron, you can do this. I know you can."

Taking a few deep breaths, Ron tried again and after a couple of times the spell worked. Suddenly the spider had roller-skates on its legs and it struggled to stay upright. At the sight of the spider on roller-skates, several of the class started to laugh and Ron returned to his place with a smug smirk on his face.

"Mr Longbottom," Lupin called. "It's your turn."

Neville nodded nervously as he stepped forward to face the boggart. Instantly the spider disappeared and in its place stood a sneering Professor Snape. Neville's biggest fear didn't come as a surprise to many as they all knew the Potions Professor terrified him. Neville turned into a bag of nerves at just the sight of the head of Slytherin, so Potions lessons were never any fun for the clumsy Gryffindor.

"Go on, Neville," Lupin urged.

"Riddikulus," Neville called tentatively.

After a couple of attempts, which made it clear Neville was really struggling, Lupin stepped forward and whispered something in Neville's ear. Neville shook his head at first, but Lupin continued talking and soon there was a small smile on Neville's face.

"Do it," Lupin said as he stepped back to the side.

"Riddikulus!" Neville cried forcefully.

The whole class burst out laughing as the spell worked and Professor Snape was suddenly standing in the middle of the classroom wearing an old fashioned women's dress, a large feather hat and carrying a furry handbag. Even Harry and Hermione had to laugh at the sight of Severus in women's clothing.

"Wait until Professor Snape hears about this," Ron cackled. "He'll be a laughing stock."

"Mr Potter," Lupin called. "You're up next."

Stepping forward, Harry nervously took his place in front of his father in drag. Unlike Hermione he wasn't overly worried about facing the boggart as he had a plan in place. With a deep breath, Harry watched as his father disappeared and large black creature took its place. Everyone in the class gasped as the Dementor hovered over Harry. Even though it had been his plan to think of the scary creature he'd encountered on the train, Harry was still slightly overwhelmed by the creature and he struggled to raise his wand.

Seeing Harry was struggling, Lupin stepped in front of the third year and the Dementor disappeared. In its place hovered a shining ball of light which looked like a moon.

"Riddikulus!" Lupin cried, and the moon turned into a popped balloon and with another flick of his wand it headed back into the wardrobe and the door slammed shut behind it. "Are you okay?" He asked as he turned to Harry.

"Yeah," Harry replied with a shaky nod. Even though he hadn't faced a real Dementor, it certainly felt like it and he didn't like the feeling.

"I think that's enough for today," Lupin said to the class.

"But what about us Slytherins?" Theo called. "We didn't do a thing."

"We'll continue this next class," Lupin replied. "I promise, everyone who hasn't had a chance will get one next time. For now you can all leave early. Although Harry, do you want to come through to my office. I'd like a word with you."

Harry exchanged puzzled looks with Hermione, before grabbing his bag and following Lupin into his adjoining office. Feeling relieved that she hadn't had to face a boggart, Hermione grabbed her own bag and hurried out of the room before Ron could catch up with her. Wondering what was happening with Harry and Lupin, Hermione wasn't paying any attention as she headed for the front doors to get some air. As she reached the front doors her brother came striding in and they almost collided.

"What's wrong?" Severus asked when he spotted Hermione was pre-occupied.

"Nothing," Hermione muttered, knowing they couldn't talk out in the open.

"Come to my office, now," Severus ordered.

"But it's nearly lunchtime," Hermione argued.

"Not for another fifteen minutes," Severus replied, checking his watch. "Which makes me wonder, why you're out of class so early."

"Lupin's trying to suck up to Harry," Hermione answered as she turned and followed her brother to his office.

Severus didn't say any more until they were ensconced in his office and the door was firmly shut behind them. "What do you mean, he's sucking up to Harry?"

"He had us facing boggarts today, and Harry's turned into a Dementor," Hermione explained. "He didn't even give Harry a chance to fight it before he jumped in and saved the day. He then took Harry into his office. No doubt he's trying to suck up and get Harry to trust him."

"Luckily Harry has more sense than that," Severus replied. "So is this what was bothering you?"

"No," Hermione admitted with a shake of her head. "I'm worried about the boggarts. I don't want to face one in case it reveals who I truly am. My biggest fear is losing my family, and I don't want everyone seeing who my family is."

"That would be problematic," Severus agreed. "When your next Defence class?"

"Thursday afternoon."

"I'm fairly sure Lupin won't be taking you on Thursday," Severus replied with a smirk. "But don't worry about the boggart. I'll get rid of it before he next takes you for a lesson."

"What if he finds another one?" Hermione questioned. "Hogwarts must be filled with dark places where a boggart can live."

"I'll have a scout around and if I find any, I'll get rid of them," Severus assured his sister. "I promise you will not have to face a boggart this year."

"Thanks," Hermione said, smiling at her big brother. "Why won't Lupin be teaching us on Thursday?"

"I'm not at liberty to say," Severus replied with a hint of regret in his voice. "But, I'll do my best to try and fill you in on what I know as soon as I can. Now you better be going to lunch before anyone comes looking for you."

Hermione rolled her eyes at her brother's swift change of subject, but she knew it was pointless to press him. Whatever he knew about Lupin, he clearly couldn't just tell her or else he would have done so. She just had to trust that he'd find a way of letting her, Harry and Draco know what was going on.

After leaving her brother's office, Hermione headed for the Great Hall and she arrived just as Harry was coming down the main staircase. There was no sign of Ron so she took the opportunity to pull her nephew into one of the alcoves so they could talk privately for a few moments.

"What did Lupin want?"

"He wanted to make sure I was okay," Harry replied. "For some reason he seems to think the Dementors have some sort of connection to me. He told me I could go to him for help at any time. He then started going on about James and how much I look like him."

"Idiot," Hermione scoffed. "It's amazing what a stupid pair of glasses does for you, Harry. Well, that and having people think James Potter was your father."

"What about you?" Harry asked. "What have you been doing with your early finish?"

"I ran into Severus," Hermione answered. "And he's promised to sort the boggart for me."

"What are big brothers, for?" Harry laughed before they stepped out of the alcove and headed into the Great Hall.

"Hey, where did you go, Hermione?" Ron asked as the pair settled down opposite him.

"I went for some fresh air," Hermione smoothly lied.

Ron nodded, although he looked sceptical. However, before he got a chance to question Hermione, Oliver Wood stalked up to the trio and told Harry there was to be an emergency quidditch meeting that evening.

"Why?" Harry asked. "We only had practice last night."

"I've just been informed that our first match has been changed, it's now against Ravenclaw," Oliver hissed in anger. "The means I need new strategies and we need to practice differently. I've been preparing for Slytherin, and we're now not playing them until the end of the season."

"Why the change?" Ron asked.

"Bloody Malfoy," Oliver seethed, glaring over at the Slytherin table. "Apparently his arm still isn't good enough for him to fly properly. Bloody Flint's even managed to wrangle it so they don't play any matches until the New Year."

"Can they do that?" Ron asked in indignation. "If Malfoy isn't fit, they should get a new seeker."

"I tried arguing that point, but Madam Hooch was insistent on the matter," Oliver replied. "There's nothing we can do, so we'll just have to change all our plans and have extra practice sessions."

"Great," Harry muttered through clenched teeth as Oliver stalked off to inform the rest of the team about the emergency meeting. As much as he loved quidditch, Oliver took it far too seriously and he was hoping whoever took over the following year after Oliver had left Hogwarts wouldn't be as much of a slave driver.

Oliver's visit had taken Ron's attention away from Hermione, and he then spent the rest of lunchtime complaining about the Slytherins, and Draco in particular. Harry nodded along occasionally, just to let Ron think he was agreeing with him, but on a whole he let the redhead rant. Nothing Hermione or Harry could say would change Ron's opinions on Slytherins and they knew it was pointless trying. Instead they would just nod along and let him think they were agreeing with his point of view. It certainly avoided a lot of trouble, and at the minute neither Harry nor Hermione were in the mood for trouble. Trouble would undoubtedly find them sooner or later so there was no need to go looking for it with Ron.


	9. Chapter 9

After speaking with Severus, Hermione filled Draco and Harry in on what's he'd said about Lupin missing the next lesson. Sure enough when Thursday arrived, their Defence lesson was cancelled. Instead, they had to join Professor McGonagall's sixth year Transfiguration students in the Great Hall. Hermione, Harry and Draco met up that night to try and work out why Lupin had been missing, but they came up with nothing. Although the mystery deepened even further when he missed his Friday lessons as well. He was also missing all weekend, although that proved nothing as there was no guarantee of seeing every Professor over a weekend.

Hermione was still none the wiser about why Lupin had been missing when their next Defence class rolled round and he was there as usual. Hermione had been nervous about the class, but she was relieved to find that her brother had kept his promise and gotten rid of the boggart. Lupin regretfully informed the class the boggart had accidentally being defeated, and they would have to wait for him to find another one to continue on with their practical lesson, although he was confident it wouldn't take him long to find one somewhere in the castle. The Slytherins were very unhappy with the news and complained loudly all lesson, but Hermione couldn't be happier with the situation and her sense of happiness continued to grow with each passing class where Lupin failed to produce a boggart.

By the middle of October, the defence lessons had moved away from boggarts and most people had even forgotten that over half the class still hadn't faced one. Of course, Hermione knew that Severus was still being watchful and made sure he got to any boggarts before Lupin. They still didn't want to risk Hermione having to face a boggart and revealing her family connection.

The middle of October also brought about news of the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year, which would occur the last weekend of the month. The second the date was pinned up on the notice board in Gryffindor Tower, it was all the third years could talk about. Of course the older students were also looking forward to the trip so they could get out of school for a few hours, but it was still far more exciting for the third years.

"I can't wait to go to Zonko's," Ron enthused over dinner on the Friday night before the trip.

"What's Zonko's?" Hermione asked. Of course she knew what Zonko's was but she had to maintain her cover as an uninformed muggleborn.

"It's a joke shop," Ron replied. "Fred and George reckon their inventions are better than anything Zonko's sells, but I don't believe that. Zonko's is the biggest joke shop in the country, and I can't wait to explore it."

"I don't know, I reckon Fred and George could probably challenge them if they wanted to," Harry said. The twins were always up to something, and he'd witnessed a few of their inventions and thought they were ingenious.

"The twins are just messing about," Ron replied with a shrug.

"Messing about or not, they show serious talent," Hermione argued. She actually thought the twins could be some of the brightest people she'd ever met, but their focus went on their pranks and jokes, not their school work.

"Whatever," Ron grumbled and Hermione and Harry knew he was now sulking because they had praised his siblings. "I just know I want to visit Zonko's. And don't forget Honeydukes."

"Joke shops and sweets," Hermione sighed. "I hope there's more to Hogsmeade than that."

"I'm sure there is," Ron said.

"Yeah, there's bound to be a book shop for you, Hermione," Harry added with a laugh.

"Let's hope so or I won't be visiting Hogsmeade very much," Hermione retorted.

"There's the Shrieking Shack," Ron provided. "It's supposed to be haunted."

"Now that might be interesting," Hermione said. "I wonder if there's any mention of it in a book somewhere. If it's haunted, its history is bound to be recorded somewhere."

"Blimey Hermione, you'll do anything to go scouring through dusty old books," Ron remarked.

"I just like to know things," Hermione replied, giving Ron a slight glare. "There's no point saying this Shrieking Shack is haunted and not knowing the story behind it. Don't you want to know more?"

"Not really," Ron answered as he shovelled a large piece of chocolate cake into his mouth.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron and his appetite as thought about where she could find the information she wanted on the Shrieking Shack. There was a good chance she could pick up a book of some sort in Hogsmeade itself, especially since the shack was nearby. And of course if she had no luck in Hogsmeade, she could always try the library at school. With all the books in the library there was bound to be one about haunted buildings and their history.

Turning her attention away from haunted buildings, she tuned back into the boys conversation only to find it had turned to quidditch. Not at all interested in the subject, Hermione helped herself to a piece of passionfruit cheesecake and ate her dessert. As she did so she let her attention wander around the hall, and she frowned as she spotted Pansy fawning all over Draco yet again. The girl really was insufferable, although Draco didn't seem at all bothered by her and was far more interested in laughing with Blaise and Theo than paying attention to the girl clinging onto his arm.

"What is the attraction?" Ron asked, jolting Hermione back to reality.

"What?" She asked, hoping it hadn't been too obvious she'd been watching Draco.

"Malfoy," Ron answered, glaring over to the Slytherin table. "First Ginny spends the whole summer going on about how amazing he is, and now Parkinson's fawning all over him as though he's something special."

"Ginny was just dazzled by the whole saving her life thing," Hermione said. "She was the same with Harry."

"True," Ron agreed. "But what about Parkinson? What's her excuse at being all over Malfoy?"

"Power," Harry answered, causing Ron to look at him in bewilderment. "Come on Ron, even you have to have noticed that Malfoy's top dog amongst the Slytherins in our year. He's the one they all look to as their leader, and all the younger students do it as well. In a few years, he'll be ruling the entire house. Parkinson just wants to be associated with someone with influence."

"Yeah, she's not exactly popular is she?" Hermione added. "Even the other girls in Slytherin aren't too fussed on her."

"Gee, I can't imagine why," Ron snorted.

"Anyway, why are you so bothered by what the Slytherins are up to?" Harry asked. "You're not jealous of Malfoy are you?"

"Of course not," Ron protested, but neither Harry nor Hermione quite believed him. He'd clearly been jealous the previous year when it was Draco not him who'd saved Ginny with Harry, and it would seem his jealousy was still alive and kicking where the blond Slytherin was concerned.

Ron swiftly changed the subject as the trio finished their dessert. By the time they were ready to leave the Great Hall, people had already started heading back to their dorms for the night so they joined the masses of students leaving the Great Hall. Outside the Great Hall, the students peeled off in three different directions. The Slytherins headed for the stairs that led to the dungeons, the Hufflepuffs headed down the corridor that led to their dorms, while the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors headed for the main staircase. Halfway up the staircase the Ravenclaws turned off in one direction while the Gryffindors headed into the opposite direction since their respective towers were at opposite ends of the castle.

"What's with the queue?" Ron asked as they began to climb the final staircase that led to Gryffindor Tower and found themselves grinding to a halt behind Dean and Seamus.

"No idea," Dean said as he stood on his tiptoes to try and see a bit further up the stairs.

"Maybe Neville's forgotten the password again," Seamus joked. Neville's bad memory was a running joke amongst the Gryffindors, and it actually wouldn't be the first time he'd forgotten the password.

"I have not," Cried Neville from the stair below Hermione, Harry and Ron. "Besides, even when I do forget the password, someone tells me it or lets me in."

"Neville's got a point," Hermione said. "Even a forgotten password wouldn't create a blockage like this. Someone further up the line has to remember the password."

As the group struggled to try and see what was happening further up, they suddenly heard Percy's voice from somewhere down below them. Looking backwards they spotted the jam of students had descended down onto the staircase below them and Percy was elbowing his way through the crowds.

"Let me through," He shouted loudly. "I'm Head Boy. Let me through."

"Pompous ass," Ron muttered as his brother burst through a gaggle of second years and reached their group.

"What's going on?" Percy demanded, glaring at Ron as though he should have an explanation for him.

"We don't know," Ron answered. "We can't get any higher up to see what's going on."

"I'll sort it," Percy announced as he squeezed past Seamus and Dean and carried on up the stairs, his loud voice carrying back down to them as he announced he was Head Boy and demanded to be let past.

Less than five minutes after Percy has ascended the stairs, he was pushing his way back down them, a worried look etched on his face.

"Hey Percy, what is it?" Ron called as his brother passed them.

"The Fat Lady is missing," Percy answered, barely stopping in his tracks. "Her portrait is slashed and there's no sign of her."

Percy's words caused a ripple of alarm to run through the crowd, and they immediately began speculating on what had happened. Several students also began asking the other portraits if they knew what had happened. Several of the portraits mentioned hearing the Fat Lady screaming, but none of them knew what had happened.

"Hey look," Seamus suddenly called, pointing across the landing to a picture of scenery which included a large rock. Hidden just behind the rock was the Fat Lady, who was peeking out and looking around nervously.

The whole group of students moved to the side of the staircase nearest to the portrait, but without moving back down and climbing up the sets of stairs opposite they couldn't get any closer to where the Fat Lady was hiding. Several of the students called across to the Fat Lady, but she didn't answer as she continued to hide. Luckily Percy's head appeared at the bottom of the stairs, alongside Dumbledore and McGonagall. Before the Head Boy and the two Professors climbed up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower, the students were able to point them in the direction of the hidden Fat Lady.

"What's going on?" Dumbledore asked as he approached the portrait where the Fat Lady was hiding.

"Sirius Black," The Fat Lady squealed, loud enough for everyone to hear. "He was trying to get into Gryffindor Tower. He threatened me with a knife."

"When was this?" McGonagall asked.

"Just now," The Fat Lady replied, before squealing again and ducking back behind her rock.

The mention of Sirius Black being in the castle created widespread panic amongst the Gryffindors and several of the younger students looked totally horrified at the idea a killer was nearby.

"Quiet!" Dumbledore bellowed, bringing silence to the corridors. "Percy, escort the students back to the Great Hall. I'll send a Professor along with a register to check everyone is present. I don't want anyone to leave the Great Hall, is that understood."

The Gryffindors murmured their acceptance as they began to turn around and troop back down to the Great Hall. Less than five minutes after they'd settled in the Great Hall, Professor Flitwick hurried into the room and took a roll call. Once he was satisfied everyone was present, he put Percy back in charge and hurried back out of the Great Hall, closing the doors behind him.

"I can't believe this," Ron said as the trio settled themselves against one of the walls. All the tables had disappeared so the hall was empty. "Why would Sirius Black be trying to break into Gryffindor Tower?"

"I don't know," Hermione muttered darkly. The only thing she could think Black would want in Gryffindor Tower was Harry, and one look at her best friend revealed he'd come to the same conclusion.

"I wonder how he got into Hogwarts." Ron mused. "Especially with the Dementors all around the place."

"That's a very good question," Harry said quietly. He was more convinced than ever that Lupin had been helping Black, and that was how he'd managed to get inside the castle.

Lapsing into silence, the trio each thought about what had happened. They were still lost in thought when the doors to the Great Hall opened again and McGonagall marched in. She quickly called for silence and gathered everyone's attention before making an announcement. The Dementors would be coming into school to help with the search for Sirius Black, and as a result the entire school would be sleeping in the Great Hall. McGonagall had no sooner made her announcement than hundreds of sleeping bags filled up the Great Hall. Unsurprisingly the bags came in the four house colour combinations, and were sorted into sections.

"Let's grab a bag," Harry said.

Moving across the room, the trio each grabbed a sleeping bag and settled down on it. Less than five minutes later, Professor Sprout entered the Great Hall with her Hufflepuffs. While the Hufflepuffs grabbed their sleeping bags, and found out what was happening from the Gryffindors, Professors McGonagall and Sprout stood in the doorway chatting quietly. Within minutes they were joined by Professor Flitwick and his Ravenclaws, followed by Severus and his Slytherins.

"This sucks," Theo called loudly as the Slytherins entered the Great Hall and made their way over to the green and silver sleeping bags. "I don't want to sleep on the floor."

"You don't have a choice, Mr Nott," Severus drawled. "Not when we somehow have an escaped murderer in our school."

"And I wonder how that happened. It's not like his friend is a Professor here, is it," Draco muttered, loud enough for a portion of the students to hear him.

By the time the four heads of houses had left the Great Hall, once again securing the doors behind them, Draco's words had started to spread and speculation was rife over who he was referring to. Of course Draco was more than happy to answer the questions people asked him, and within half an hour everyone in the Great Hall knew that Remus Lupin had gone to school with Sirius Black.

"How does he know that?" Ron asked, narrowing his eyes at the blond over the other side of the room.

"I heard him say he'd been reading old newspaper articles about Black," Neville supplied.

"Come on Ron, it's not that hard to figure out that Lupin was friends with Black," Harry said. "He told us himself on the train."

"Yeah, but we're not insinuating he's helping Black into the school," Ron argued. "Malfoy could cause a lot of trouble spreading his lies."

"He's not spreading lies, is he?" Hermione argued. "He's merely stating facts. It's up to people how they interpret what they discover."

"Malfoy's tone indicates Lupin helped Black break into Hogwarts," Ron retorted.

"Maybe he did," Harry said. "We don't know him, Ron. For all we know, Lupin is involved in what happened tonight."

Harry's sentiments were being echoed around the Great Hall, and as the students settled down to sleep people were beginning to question the new Defence Professor. Would he really let his old friend into the school and endanger the students, or was it all just a coincidence that he'd attended school with Sirius Black?


	10. Chapter 10

After spending an uncomfortable night in the Great Hall the students of Hogwarts were relieved when the Professors entered the room. Unfortunately, Dumbledore didn't bring them the good news they'd been hoping for. First of all, they hadn't found Sirius Black. Despite searching the castle all night there was no sign of the convict. Secondly, and much worse in most people's opinion, was the fact the Hogsmeade trip had been cancelled. Dumbledore had reassured the students they would get to go to Hogsmeade before the end of the term, but for now all trips down to the nearby village were postponed until further notice.

"I don't believe this," Ron grumbled as all the students were let out of the Great Hall to go and get dressed. "I was looking forward to going to Hogsmeade."

"We all were," Harry replied. "But it looks like we're going to have to wait for a while longer to get a taste of freedom."

"Freedom?" Hermione laughed at Harry's exaggeration over the trip.

"Yes freedom," Harry said, grinning and throwing his arm around Hermione's shoulders. "As much as I love Hogwarts, it would have been nice to leave for a few hours and explore somewhere new."

"I guess so," Hermione conceded. She wasn't overly fussed about heading down to Hogsmeade as yet again it was just somewhere else they had to hide their friendship with Draco.

"So what are we going to do instead?" Ron asked as they reached Gryffindor Tower.

Instead of the portrait of the Fat Lady, the Tower was guarded by a picture of a knight on horseback. Luckily, McGonagall had told all the Gryffindors the password before she let them leave the Great Hall.

"More young Gryffindors," The portrait said, jumping off his horse and removing his helmet. "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Sir Cadogan and I'll be guarding Gryffindor Tower. Rest assured no scoundrels will pass through on my watch."

"That's good to know," Harry muttered, before giving the password. "Phoenix."

"Ah Phoenix, a nice strong password," Sir Cadogan jollily replied. "I rather like it, don't you?"

"It's great, now let us in," Ron griped as a queue started to form behind the trio.

"What's the hold up?" A voice from behind them shouted.

"See, people are waiting," Ron said to the knight, who still hadn't made a move to open the entrance.

"I'll get to the door in a minute," Sir Cadogan tutted. "Honestly, you young people are so impatient."

"Let us in, or I'm going to go and get Professor McGonagall," Hermione snapped, stepping forward and glaring at the knight. "Now."

"Okay, okay," Sir Cadogan muttered as his portrait swung open and the entrance to Gryffindor Tower opened before them.

"Wow, Hermione, you rock," Ron said with a laugh as the trio trooped into the common room, followed by dozens of other students.

"Sometimes it pays to be bossy," Hermione answered with a shrug.

"So what are we going to do today?" Ron repeated.

Harry shrugged in response but before he had a chance to offer a suggestion, Oliver Wood popped up behind Harry and clapped the third year on the shoulder.

"We're going to have an extra quidditch practice," He announced. "Be down at the quidditch stadium in half an hour."

"That's my morning sorted, I guess," Harry said to Ron as Oliver darted off to grab the other members of the team. "Although knowing Wood the practice could last all day."

"Bummer," Ron grumbled, before an idea struck him and he grinned at Harry. "I'll come and watch. Hermione, do you want to come?"

"I don't think so," Hermione answered. "I might just head to the library."

"See you later then," Ron called as he and Harry headed up to the boys dorms to get ready for the day.

Heading up to her own room, Hermione grabbed a shower and changed into fresh clothes. When she returned to the common room, Harry and Ron were just heading down to the quidditch pitch. Saying goodbye to her friends, Hermione headed off in the opposite direction to the two boys.

Instead of heading to the library, Hermione crept down to the dungeons. Making her way to Severus's office, Hermione knocked on the door and hoped her brother answered before anyone spotted her and she had to come up with a lie as to why she wanted to talk to the Potions Professor. Luckily she only had to wait for a few minutes before the door swung open.

"Hermione," Severus declared in surprise as he opened the door to find his sister standing outside. "You better come in before anyone sees you."

Hermione darted into the office and found Draco sitting sprawled in one of the chairs in front of her brother's desk.

"You're not in trouble are you, Draco?" Hermione teased as she settled down in the chair next to her friend.

"I never get in trouble," Draco replied with a grin.

Severus chuckled at his godson as he took his own seat. "So Hermione, I'm guessing you're here for the same reason as Draco. You want the gossip?"

"Yes please," Hermione said eagerly. "What can you tell us?"

"Not much I'm afraid," Severus replied with a disappointed sigh. "We spent all night searching the castle, but Black vanished."

"Is that possible without help?" Hermione asked. "In fact is it possible for him to enter the castle without help?"

"I suppose it's possible," Severus conceded. "He'd have to have a lot of luck and a lot of skill on his side, but I guess it's a possibility. It's also possible he had time to escape before anyone even knew he'd been in the castle."

"But why was he trying to get into Gryffindor Tower?" Draco questioned. "In fact, why's he hanging around school? What does he want?"

"I wish I knew," Severus muttered. "The only thing I can think of that could be drawing him to the school is Harry. But I don't know why he's interested in Harry."

"I think he wants to convince Harry he's not responsible for the Potters deaths," Hermione said, remembering their first meeting with Lupin. "When we met Lupin, he was pretty insistent that Black wasn't to blame for what happened to James and Lily."

"But why bother?" Draco asked, not buying Hermione's reasons. "He can't prove anything. So what if he gets Harry to believe him, it won't change anything. He's still a convicted murderer and a wanted criminal."

"That's exactly what I'm struggling with," Severus said. "Why go to all this effort to get to Harry? Why now? Until we came back to school I was convinced his escape had nothing to do with Harry, but now I'm not so sure."

"What do we do?" Hermione asked. "Lupin's clearly helping him. We need to get rid of them both."

"We will, trust me," Severus replied. "But getting rid of Lupin is proving harder than I thought."

"Why don't you just tell us his secret," Hermione suggested. She was convinced Lupin's secret was what was going to get him fired, but it was useless if her brother wouldn't divulge it.

"I would love to, but we have to play this right," Severus said with a sigh. "Trust me, the second you find it out if you go to Lucius he'll handle the rest. I'll do my best to make sure you find things out as soon as possible, but it's out of my hands I'm afraid. I just need to wait for my opportunity and grab it."

"And what do we do in the meantime?" Hermione asked.

"We keep a close eye on Harry," Severus answered. "All of us. If Black wants to get to him, we have to make sure he fails. He might want to try and get Harry onside, but he might have other motives we know nothing about. Either way, I don't want that criminal anywhere near my son."

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

* * *

The Hogsmeade trip was cancelled for a month, but finally five weeks after the original date the third years and upwards were allowed to head down to the village. In that time there'd been no more sightings of Sirius Black, either in the castle or anywhere else in the country. However the Dementors were still based at Hogwarts so no-one really thought Black had gone very far at all.

On the morning of the Hogsmeade trip, Harry, Ron and Hermione joined the line of third years leaving the school. The other students were free to just leave the castle grounds, but before the third years received that right they had to hand over permission slips. McGonagall and Filch were in charge of collecting the permission slips and registering which students could leave the grounds to head down to Hogsmeade on trip days.

"I wish they would hurry up," Ron grumbled as they stood in the line a few places back from Draco and the Slytherins. "I'm dying to get down to Hogsmeade."

"I'm hoping we're going to have some fun," Harry said as the line inched forward.

Finally it was their turn, and after handing their forms over to McGonagall, who double checked them to make sure they genuinely had permissions of their guardians, they were heading off down towards the village. As they walked, the Slytherins were still slightly in front of them but they deliberately kept a steady pace so they didn't have to deal with Draco and his friends. After a ten minute walk, they entered Hogsmeade and paused as they looked around at the village they were visiting for the first time. None of them had actually seen the village before as the train station was situated on the edge of the village and the path the carriages took up to Hogwarts avoided the village itself.

"Where first?" Harry asked, looking around the village which was bustling with students from Hogsmeade.

Spotting the Slytherins heading into Honeydukes, Ron turned to see what shop lay in the opposite direction. "How about Zonko's?"

Harry and Hermione went along with Ron and as they followed the redhead towards the joke shop they exchanged amused eye rolls. They'd both spotted him watching where the Slytherins had gone and they knew he'd chosen to head into the joke shop so he didn't have to deal with the Slytherins.

Even though the joke shop wasn't Hermione's ideal place to visit, she didn't complain as the boys scoured the shelves and bought a few bits and pieces. From the joke shop, they headed over to Honeydukes before heading to the book shop. In the book shop Hermione found a book about the Shrieking Shack and other haunted buildings in wizarding Britain and she snapped it up. Dawdling in and out of a few other shops, the trio made their way to The Three Broomsticks, one of the two pubs in the village. They'd been told they would be allowed in the pubs to eat and to have a drink, but they wouldn't be served alcohol.

"I can't wait to try a butterbeer," Ron said as they entered the snug bar. Despite the name, butterbeers weren't alcoholic and therefore the students were allowed them.

"Should we order and then find a table, or do it the other way around?" Hermione asked, looking around at the crowded pub. "If of course there is a free table."

"There's a one in the corner." Harry pointed over to the far corner, where a small table sat empty. "You go grab the table and Ron and I will go and get drinks."

Slipping through the crowds, Hermione headed off to grab the table while Harry and Ron made their way to the bar. There was already a few people at the bar so the two thirteen year olds had to just wait their turn. As they waited, they looked around the cosy pub and decided they liked the place.

"Whoa," Ron suddenly gasped as he caught sight of the buxom witch behind the bar. "She's beautiful."

Harry turned to look at the barmaid, and had to admit she was an attractive witch. Harry was guessing she was around his father's age, but she was still very attractive. She had blonde curly hair, a warm, welcoming smile and a figure that made men stare. Even at thirteen, Harry's eyes were drawn to the curvaceous blonde's bosoms.

"What can I get you two young men?" The barmaid asked as she made her way over to them.

Ron opened his mouth to place an order, but all that came out was a small squeak. Rolling his eyes at Ron's embarrassment, Harry ordered three butterbeers.

"I'm guessing you two are in third year up at Hogwarts," The barmaid said as she sorted the drinks.

"Yeah," Harry answered as it seemed Ron still hadn't found the ability to talk. "It's our first trip to Hogsmeade."

"I hope you enjoy it," The barmaid replied with a smile. "I'm Rosmerta, by the way. And this is my pub, so I expect you to behave yourselves. I don't like trouble in my place."

"You won't get any trouble from us," Harry vowed.

"I'm sure I won't," Rosmerta replied. Handing over the three bottles of butterbeer, she took Harry's money and also gave them menus.

As Rosmerta turned and headed to deal with other customers, Harry gathered up the bottles of butterbeer and prodded Ron in the ribs. "Grab the menu's."

Ron obediently grabbed the menus and giving Rosmerta one more longing glance, he followed Harry over to where Hermione was waiting.

"What's up with Ron?" Hermione asked as Harry placed the drinks on the table and practically had to yank Ron down in his seat as the redhead had turned back to the bar.

"He's got a crush on the landlady," Harry explained.

"I do not," Ron protested, finally finding his voice.

"Yeah, you do," Harry laughed. "You were practically drooling, and you couldn't get a word out."

"I do not have a crush," Ron protested. "I'm just shy."

Hermione snorted at the thought of Ron being shy as she grabbed her menu and picked what she wanted to eat. Once everyone had made their choices, Harry asked Ron if he wanted to go and place the orders but Ron refused so Harry had to go and do it. for the rest of the meal, Harry teased Ron about fancying Rosmerta, and by the time they exited the pub Ron had given in and admitted the landlady was the most attractive witch he'd ever set eyes on.

"Where now?" Harry asked.

"The Shrieking Shack," Hermione answered. "We can't get too close, but if we follow this path here we should be able to get a good view."

"Do you know anything about the place yet?" Harry asked as they set off along the path Hermione had mentioned. Over lunch, Hermione had browsed through her book in order to get some information on the supposedly haunted shack.

"Not much," Hermione replied. "I just flicked through the book. I want to read it properly to get a better idea of its history. I did read that locals had reported hearing noises from the shack on a night. There's supposedly a lot of howling that can be heard coming from inside the place."

"Great, noisy ghosts," Ron grimaced.

"Look, I think that's it," Harry declared as they rounded a corner and a ramshackle building came into view.

The trio made their way over to the fence that cordoned off the shack and they all stood looking at the place. It was a curious little place and Hermione had to wonder why it was built. It didn't look big enough to be a house, and it was too far away from the houses in the village for it to belong to one of them.

"Bloody hell," Ron suddenly swore as he took a couple of steps backward and pointed towards the stairs that led to the shack's door. "It's the grim again."

Harry and Hermione looked to where Ron was pointing and found the same wild, black dog they'd seen a few weeks previously sitting on the bottom step. The creature seemed to be watching them and Hermione felt chills run down her back. Taking hold of Harry's hand, she backed away from the shack and the unnerving stare of the dog.

"I think we should head back into the village," She whispered.

"Good idea," Ron muttered.

Still keeping a wary eye on the large dog, the trio headed back towards the village. The second they turned the corner and the dog was no longer in sight they exchanged looks and took off running towards the centre of the village. Back amongst the other students, they tried to brush off the bad feeling the dog had given them as they visited a few more shops before heading back to the castle. However, Harry and Hermione couldn't shake the feeling that the dog meant trouble. They didn't believe Ron's theory that it was the grim and death would follow, but they definitely thought something was going to happen.


	11. Chapter 11

On the morning they were due to head back home for Christmas break, Hermione was settling Crookshanks into his basket when Ron came pounding down the stairs from the boys' dorms. Hermione barely looked up as the redhead entered the room, although he caught her attention when he stomped up to her and started yelling.

"Your bloody cat has killed Scabbers," He yelled. "Scabbers was on my bed when I went to breakfast, and now he's nowhere to be found."

"What has that got to do with Crookshanks?" Hermione asked as she secured her pet's basket for the journey down to the train.

"Your beast of a cat has clearly eaten him," Ron wailed. "Scabbers is gone and I found a ginger cat hair on my bed."

"One cat hair? Well that's compelling evidence," Hermione retorted sharply. "Honestly Ronald, Crookshanks is not to blame to whatever has happened to your pathetic rat. He's probably just curled up sleeping somewhere. I'm sure you'll find him."

"We have to leave in ten minutes," Ron argued. "I'll never find him in ten minutes."

"Well it looks like Scabbers is spending Christmas here at Hogwarts."

Ron glared at Hermione as she casually double checked she had everything in her bag. "You could at least show some sympathy to my plight. Sometimes, you're really heartless, Hermione."

"It is a rat, Ron," Hermione said with a frustrated sigh. "A rat that by all rights should be dead. I'm sure it can survive a few weeks without you."

"That's not the point," Ron hissed. "Scabbers is my pet and I'm worried about him. You would be worried about your fur ball if you couldn't find him."

"Crookshanks doesn't disappear though," Hermione argued. "He's always around when I'm looking for him. My pet knows how to behave."

"Your pet knows how to kill my pet," Ron shot back.

Hermione glared at Ron and opened her mouth to argue but was interrupted by Dean's voice calling Ron's name. Turning around the pair found Dean entering the common room from the boys' dorm, carrying a shoe.

"It's your rat," Dean said, handing Ron the shoe. "He's asleep in my shoe."

"Cool," Ron gushed, peering into the shoe and grinning widely when he spotted a fast asleep Scabbers. "I'll just get him out and you can have your shoe back."

"Don't bother," Dean said with a grimace. "It looks like he's been sleeping in there on a regular basis. He's chewed through one of the laces and he's left a few deposits in the shoe. I'll never wear it again now I know a rat has shit in my shoe."

"Sorry Dean," Ron said as Dean turned and headed back to the boys dorms. Looking down into the shoe, Ron grimaced when he spotted the tell-tale brown pellets nestled in Dean's shoe beside Scabbers.

Hermione cleared her throat as Ron continued to examine Dean's shoe. "I think you owe someone an apology," She said when Ron finally looked up.

"Sorry," He spat. "I made a mistake."

"Next time you should try thinking before you accuse Crookshanks of doing anything to your precious rat," Hermione retorted.

Mumbling something under his breath about dangerous felines, Ron turned around and headed back upstairs to finish his packing. Hermione also finished checking she had everything before picking up her bag and Crookshanks basket and heading off downstairs to grab a carriage. By the time she'd made it to the front of the castle, Harry and Ron had caught her up and the trio travelled down to Hogsmeade station together.

When they settled on the train, Hermione released Crookshanks from his basket and he curled up quite happily on her knee. Over the other side of the carriage, Ron gave Crookshanks a wary look before nestling Scabbers on the chair beside him. Stuck in the middle, Harry said nothing about the atmosphere between the pair, instead he tried to lighten the mood and suggested they play some exploding snap.

"I think I'm just going to read," Hermione said as she produced her book from her bag.

Really she was settling down to think about Lupin, and what his secret could be. She was determined to work out what he was hiding, and how it would result in his getting sacked. Unfortunately all she had to go on was a few cryptic comments from her brother, and the fact Lupin had missed several days teaching over the course of the first term. His initial couple of days off had been repeated a couple of times over the course of the term. His last sick day had just been on a Friday, but other than that he tended to take two days. Hermione had noted the dates he was off, but so far she could see no correlation between the dates. She was hoping if she studied everything she knew about Lupin over the course of the holidays, she would have answers by the time they returned to school in January.

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

* * *

By the time they reached London, Harry was more than happy to be getting off the train. The atmosphere between Hermione and Ron wasn't great following their argument that morning about their pets. Harry wasn't sure what exactly Hermione had said, but he knew Ron was mad enough to call her a heartless cow when he returned to the dorms. Harry's first instinct had been to confront Ron over his insult, but he didn't want to lose his cool so he'd said nothing. He knew he would get the full story off Hermione when they got home, and then he could decide if she had been heartless, or if it was Ron overreacting. Personally, he was suspecting it was a mixture of both, Ron flew off the handle at the slightest of things and sometimes Hermione couldn't quite control her natural caustic attitude when it came to Ron.

Disembarking from the train, Harry paused to look around. Severus had told him and Hermione a few days ago that Voldemort and Beth were home for the holidays and that Beth was picking them up, but Harry needed to see her with his own eyes. While Hermione may have been the one who was openly worried about the pair, Harry was just as worried in his own way. He loved Voldemort and Beth, and he didn't want to think about what would happen if anything happened to them.

"Mum," Hermione suddenly gasped from beside him.

Harry barely had a chance to spot Beth, before Hermione had ran over to her and gave her a big hug. Smiling at the sight, Harry turned to Ron and said goodbye to the redhead.

"Is your Aunt and Uncle here?" Ron asked, looking around for the muggles who'd raised Harry.

"They'll be outside in the muggle part of the station," Harry answered smoothly, the lie falling off his tongue without him even having to think about it. "I'll probably just head through the barrier with Hermione."

"Okay then," Ron said. "See you in a few weeks. Have a good Christmas, Harry."

"You too," Harry called as he slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed over to where Hermione and Beth were standing.

Beth played her part to perfection, and greeted Harry as though he was no more than her daughter's friend. As usual she asked Harry if he wanted to join them in returning to the muggle world, and the threesome headed through the barrier into the muggle world. Back in the muggle world they made sure they were well away from the barrier and actually outside the station, before darting into a dark alley. Once they were alone, Beth gave Harry a warm hug before taking hold of him and Hermione and apparating them home.

Once they were home, Harry and Hermione both dropped their bags in the hallway before racing into the front room in the hope of finding Voldemort. Hermione didn't even stop to let Crookshanks out of his basket as she was so eager to see her father. When the pair entered the front room they found Voldemort standing waiting for them in front of the fire.

"Daddy." Hermione rushed straight over to her father and threw her arms around him. "I'm so pleased you're okay."

"So am I," Harry added, smiling at his grandfather as he also gave him a hug.

"Are you back for good?" Hermione asked. "Do you have everything you need to complete your ritual to return you to full health?"

"We still need a few more bits and pieces," Voldemort answered. "We should be ready to go by the end of July."

"But are you staying for Christmas?" Harry asked.

"Yes, we're staying for Christmas," Beth answered as she entered the room with Crookshanks in her arms. "Hermione, I'm assuming this adorable cat belongs to you."

"This is Crookshanks," Hermione said, stroking the top of her cat's head. "Draco picked him before we went back to school."

"Speaking of Draco, he'll be here for dinner with his parents," Voldemort said. "Why don't the two of you go and unpack and tidy up before our guests arrive. We can discuss everything over dinner."

Giving Beth and Voldemort another hug and letting them know how happy they were that they were back, Hermione and Harry headed off upstairs to get ready for dinner with the Malfoys.

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

* * *

Dinner was the normal lavish affair, with Severus and the Malfoys present. Settling down to eat, Voldemort and Beth briefly outlined what they'd been up to for the past few months. Voldemort was still sketchy on the exact nature of the ritual that would restore him to full strength, but he was confident the ritual would happen over the summer.

"How long are you back?" Lucius asked.

"We'll be leaving again just after Christmas," Beth said, causing both Harry and Hermione to lose some of their excitement. "We were hoping Hermione and Harry could spend the remainder of the holiday with you."

"Of course," Narcissa replied with a bright smile. "You know we're always happy to have the pair of them around the manor."

"Do you have to leave again?" Hermione asked with a pout.

"Yes, Hermione, we do," Voldemort answered with a nod of his head. "We still need a few more things, and they're vital to the ritual."

"We'll be careful," Beth promised Hermione, sensing what her daughter was going to say next.

"So why don't you tell us about your year," Voldemort urged. "How's it been?"

"Not great," Hermione admitted with a shrug. "Dumbledore has Hagrid teaching Care of Magical Creatures, and he's useless. Draco was injured in his first lesson."

"Are you okay?" Beth asked Draco in concern.

"I'm fine," Draco answered.

"And we don't need to worry about Hagrid," Lucius said. "Dumbledore's put off his hearing as long as he could, but it's scheduled for the end of December. By the time school starts again that oaf will no longer be teaching."

"Now we just need to get rid of Lupin," Hermione muttered. "Of course it would help if we had all the information," She added pointedly as she glared at her brother.

"All in good time," Severus replied with a mysterious smile. "Believe me, I'm working on getting the information to you as soon as I can."

"Would someone care to explain what's going on?" Voldemort questioned, looking between his two children.

"The new Defence Professor has a secret and Severus won't tell us what it is," Hermione answered as Voldemort and Beth were briefed about Lupin and his connection to Sirius Black.

"We need to play this correctly," Severus said. "I discovered something about Remus Lupin at the beginning of the term. However, Dumbledore told me in confidence, and if it comes out I broke that confidence he won't trust me."

"You need to stay in with Dumbledore," Voldemort insisted. "I don't want Harry and Hermione left alone with Dumbledore and his cronies. I need you there to keep an eye on things."

"Which is why we're doing things my way," Severus replied. "Lucius knows about the secret, but he can't act on it without giving me away. That's why I plan on accidentally revealing Lupin's secret to Hermione, Harry and Draco. Draco can than tell Lucius and he can be dealt with appropriately."

"Why can't Father just say I told him about Lupin's secret?" Draco asked.

"Because you don't know the secret," Lucius replied. "And at the minute, there's no explanation as to how you would know the secret. Trust us, Severus has a plan and it's fool proof."

"It's just taking longer to implement than I would like, but it'll happen," Severus said confidently. "We just have to have patience."

"And that is Hermione's downfall," Voldemort chuckled. "My daughter is very impatient."

"I can be patient," Hermione argued, causing everyone to laugh. They all knew Hermione was very impatient and having to wait for something drove her mad.

"Now, tell me what else you've been up to," Voldemort said as the laughter died down. "I want to hear all about the last few months."

With the topic of Lupin left to one side, Hermione, Harry and Draco began to talk about school. Instead of focusing on their Professors, they spoke about what else was happening. Harry described Gryffindor winning the first match of the season, while Draco mentioned he was back in training following his injury and Slytherin's first match of the year would be in January, a few weeks after they return for the new term. Since Hermione didn't have quidditch to talk about she told her parents about her school work and how she was progressing with her new subjects.

The conversation lasted all through dinner and for a few hours afterwards. Then it was time for the Malfoys to head home and for attention to be turned to Christmas itself. Since Voldemort and Beth were off again a few days after Christmas, they vowed that the day itself would be one to remember for Harry and Hermione.


	12. Chapter 12

On the day of Hagrid's hearing at the Ministry, Hermione, Harry and Draco anxiously awaited news. Harry and Hermione were both now at the manor for the remainder of the holidays, and they'd watched alongside Draco as a confident Lucius flooed to the Ministry for the hearing. Lucius was confident he was going to get what he wanted, but the trio had learnt to never underestimate Dumbledore. If he spoke up for Hagrid there was a good chance nothing would work out as they expected.

"Sitting beside the fire won't make Lucius return any quicker," Narcissa commented to the trio as she entered the room to find them camped out in front of the fire. "Why don't you do something productive with your time."

"Like what?" Draco asked.

"Don't you have any homework?" Narcissa questioned. "In my day we got homework to do over the holidays."

"All done," Hermione replied. In fact most of their work had been completed before they left school and they'd only had bits and pieces to do, all of which were done before Christmas.

"All three of you?" Narcissa looked between the three children, focusing mainly on Draco and Harry. She could believe Hermione had all her homework up to date, but she was less convinced her son and Harry would be the same.

"Yep, we done it all together," Harry answered, giving Narcissa a grin.

"I have to say, I'm impressed," Narcissa admitted.

"Does this mean we get extra treats for tomorrow night?" Draco asked slyly. The following night was New Year, and while Lucius and Narcissa were planning on going to a party, Severus was coming to the manor to watch over the trio as they had a small celebration of their own.

"We'll see," Narcissa replied, refusing to be drawn either way on extra treats. "Now I want the three of you to actually do something. You're not sitting here all day."

"Let's go into the garden," Draco said as he got to his feet. "We can go into the tree house."

The tree house was a relic of the trio's childhood, but it was so large and extravagant it was still suitable for them to use. The tree house was magically interwoven with one of the largest tress in the Malfoys garden, and it had magically adjusted itself as Draco and his friends had grown up. Now when the threesome entered the place, it had developed into a two storey house. The bottom floor contained three comfortable beanbag chairs and a small coffee table, and the upstairs housed a small bed.

"We should use this place more often," Harry declared as he slumped down in one of the beanbag chairs. "It's a pretty cool secret headquarters."

"Headquarters for what?" Hermione asked as her and Draco settled in the other two chairs.

Harry thought for a second, before his face broke out in a wide grin. "Headquarters for The Dark Lord's youngest, and most ingenuous, supporters. We can do all our plotting in here."

"We don't have any plotting to do though," Hermione pointed out. "Until Severus comes through with his secret about Lupin we're stuck."

"Have you had no luck figuring out what it could be?" Draco checked.

"I don't have a clue," Hermione admitted. "All I have is a bad feeling about him. I know he's helping Black break into the castle, but I can't prove it. I know his secret has to do with his sick days, but I can't work out what's wrong with him. Being ill isn't a sackable offence."

"I guess it depends what's wrong with him," Draco said with a shrug. "It might be catching."

"Bloody well, I hope not," Harry complained. "He's always trying to spend time with me. I don't want to catch anything contagious."

"Tell him to sod off," Draco advised.

"I can't do that without blowing my cover," Harry argued. "I have to pretend to be interested in his boring stories about James bloody Potter."

"Maybe that's the key," Hermione mused thoughtfully.

"Maybe what's the key?" Harry frowned, not sure what Hermione was going on about. "Come on Aunt Hermione, tell us your wicked plan."

"Don't call me that," Hermione growled, causing both Harry and Draco to chuckle at her extreme reaction.

"Sorry," Harry chuckled, although he sounded anything but. "So come on, what's the key?"

"You," Hermione answered, giving Harry a look that let him know she hadn't quite forgotten his quip. "Maybe you should try and spend more time with Lupin. Maybe something he tells you will lead us to his secret. He trusts you Harry, he might tell you something he doesn't mean to."

"That sounds boring as hell," Harry muttered. When Draco and Hermione just looked at him expectantly, he sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'll listen to Lupin's stupid stories and I'll pretend to like him."

"Just make sure he doesn't get suspicious," Hermione cautioned.

"He won't," Harry replied with confidence. "He's made enough approaches to me, so it'll be easy to convince him I need his help with something."

"That's Lupin sorted, now let's hope Father has dealt with Hagrid," Draco said. "Care of Magical Creatures might be interesting with a half decent Professor."

Luckily they didn't have to wait too long to find out what had happened at the Ministry. Halfway through the afternoon, Lucius returned home fresh from the hearing. By that time the trio had moved back indoors and were settled back in the front room, although they weren't just sitting waiting for Lucius to return. Harry and Draco were playing Wizard's Chess and Hermione was reading as she waited to play the winner. Narcissa was also present, sorting out invitations to a dinner party she was planning on hosting after the trio returned to school.

"Well, is it good news?" Draco demanded of his father the second he set eyes on him.

Immediately the chess game was abandoned, and all three teenagers focused their attention on Lucius. As usual, Lucius was incredibly hard to read so they had no idea if the hearing had been successful or not.

"It was a hell of a fight," Lucius answered as he poured himself a glass of firewhisky and settled down in his favourite armchair.

"But you won, right?" Draco questioned.

Slowly Lucius smirked at the trio, his grey eyes lighting up in amusement. "Of course I won."

"Will you tell us about it?" Hermione eagerly asked.

"First of all, Hagrid had Dumbledore at his side. Dumbledore spoke first, defending that oaf and trying to pass the entire thing off as an unfortunate accident. Hagrid then said a few words, pleading for the life of the Hippogriff and begging the Minister and his panel not to fire him. And then it was my turn."

"I bet that was good to watch," Harry said, totally in awe of the impressive older wizard.

"I was rather impressive," Lucius boasted with a smug smirk. "I think the panel were more than happy to go along with what Dumbledore was saying, but they hadn't counted on my passion. I spoke about how my poor, innocent son almost lost his arm and the pain he's suffered since. I then played my trump card and announced I didn't want the Hippogriff to be killed. You should have seen Hagrid and Dumbledore when I started talking about the Hippogriff's rights and how it would be much safer and happier in a proper sanctuary. I thought the pair of them were going to have heart attacks, although that might have been fun."

"I take it Buckbeak is going to be sent to a sanctuary?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, that was decided fairly quickly," Lucius answered. "Even Dumbledore couldn't argue that decision as it's the most sensible option. He did however put up a fight when I demanded Hagrid should be sacked as a Professor."

"He didn't win, did he?" Draco asked with a worried frown.

"Of course not," Lucius scoffed. "I had an argument to counteract everything he tried. At the end of the day, Hagrid isn't even a fully qualified wizard. Then there's all the trouble with the Chamber of Secrets. Dumbledore argued he wasn't responsible for it being opened last year, but officially Hagrid is still down as the culprit for it been opened all those years ago. All that combined with the fact Draco was injured in his first week teaching led to the Minister agreeing with me. Hagrid is no longer the Care of Magical Creatures Professor."

"Awesome," Draco said with a grin. "Do you know who's going to take the job now?"

"I think Dumbledore is going to speak to the old Professor and get her to cover for the rest of the year until he can find a permanent replacement," Lucius answered.

"Will this help us in our quest to get rid of Dumbledore as headmaster?" Hermione asked.

"Quite possibly," Lucius replied with a thoughtful nod of his head. "It's not good judgement to hire someone and then be forced to sack then within a year. There's also the debacle of the last two Defence Professors, not to mention the fuss there's going to be about Lupin when his secret comes to light. Dumbledore is digging his own grave, and we're not even having to do much to help. Sometimes, I swear that man doesn't have a shred of common sense."

"You won't get any argument from me," Narcissa said as she elegantly rose to her feet. "If it wasn't for the fact Severus was at the school, I would have serious doubts about sending Draco. It certainly isn't the safe haven it was when we were younger."

"From what I remember the castle had its dangers," Lucius said, smirking at his wife as he also got to his feet. Reaching out and grabbing her hand, he pulled her into his arms. "I once got frostbite in a very unfortunate place."

"That's what happens when you go frolicking in the snow," Narcissa replied with a light laugh as she recalled the incident.

"We were indoors," Lucius argued. "It's not like we were rolling about in the snow."

"No, we were just up in the astronomy tower on the coldest night of the year," Narcissa said, pecking her husband on the lips. "It's only natural your backside was exposed to the elements."

"Please stop," Draco groaned at his parents as Hermione and Harry sniggered on either side of him.

"Are we embarrassing you, son?" Lucius asked, looking over his shoulder and smirking at Draco before returning his attention to Narcissa and sweeping her up into a passionate kiss.

"And we're going to be going now," Draco announced as he got to his feet.

Practically dragging Harry and Hermione out of the room, he led the way to his bedroom. At least they could celebrate getting rid of Hagrid, and as Lucius said, it was another nail in Dumbledore's coffin. So far they were two and a half years into a seven year stint at Hogwarts, and they'd already worked their way through three Professors. Lupin would then make four, and that really wasn't a good record for Dumbledore to have. It had to leave people questioning his judgement when it came to hiring staff.

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

* * *

As usual the remainder of the holidays whizzed by and it was soon time to return to Hogwarts for another term. Like always, the trio separated before arriving on the platform and joining up with their friends. While Harry and Hermione joined up with Ron and sat with him and Ginny on the train, Draco was ensconced with the Slytherins.

"Did anything interesting happen over the holidays, Draco?" Theo asked. His own holidays had been pretty boring and he was eager for gossip.

"Didn't your Father have a hearing to deal with that buffoon, Hagrid?" Blaise asked.

"He did," Draco confirmed with a smirk. "And Father wiped the floor with Hagrid and Dumbledore. He got the monstrous creature sent to some sort of animal reservation, and Hagrid got the sack."

"You mean, he's gone?" Theo questioned. "Completely?"

"Nah, just as a Professor," Draco replied. "Dumbledore somehow managed to keep him on as a groundskeeper. But the important thing is that he's gone. Now we might learn something in Care of Magical Creatures."

"I can't wait to see the faces of the Gryffindors when they realised their little pet has been sacked," Blaise laughed. "Potter and his friends love Hagrid. They'll be devastated."

Laughing wickedly, the Slytherins spent the rest of the trip catching up and exchanging stories about their holidays. When they got off the train in Hogsmeade, Blaise and Theo tried to catch the Gryffindors to rub their noses in Hagrid's sacking, but they were nowhere in sight. Either they hadn't gotten off the train, or they were already in a carriage on their way up to Hogwarts.

The Slytherins got their answer when they arrived at the castle and found no sign of the Gryffindors. In fact, Harry, Hermione and their friends were amongst the very last people to enter the Great Hall. The group had just taken their seats and settled down when Dumbledore stood up and began to address the student body.

"I regret to inform you that due to an unfortunate incident last term, Professor Hagrid will no longer be teaching Care of Magical Creatures," Dumbledore announced sombrely. "Professor Grubbly-Plank will be retaking her old position for the remainder of the year."

"Look at them," Theo whispered, gesturing over to the Gryffindor table where Harry, Ron and Hermione were having a hushed conversation. Harry and Hermione had their backs to the Slytherin table, but Ron didn't and they could clearly see how upset he was at the news.

"It looks like Weasley is going to cry," Blaise snickered.

Right on cue, Ron turned his attention to the Slytherin table and his emotions changed. He now no longer looked upset, he looked furious and the focus of that fury was Draco. Not wanting to pass up an opportunity to have some fun, Draco filled a glass of pumpkin juice and held it up to Ron in a toast. The other Slytherins all did the same, and as Ron watched on in anger, they toasted Hagrid's departure.


	13. Chapter 13

Just over a week after the term started it was Slytherins first quidditch match of the year against Hufflepuff. With the rearranged scheduling, it now meant Gryffindor and Slytherin would fight it out in the last match of the year. The last minute switch had not gone down well with Oliver Wood, and he insisted that every one of his team was down at the quidditch stadium to watch Slytherin play and he wanted them all to come up with plans for how they were going to defeat them.

"It's like homework," Harry complained as he took his seat in the Gryffindor stand with Ron and Hermione. "Can you believe Wood is now making us do homework? And here was me thinking quidditch should be fun."

"Taking on Slytherin is no laughing matter," Ron said seriously. "You need to take this seriously, Harry. You have to make sure you beat Malfoy."

"Yeah, yeah," Harry grumbled with a roll of his eyes. "I can beat Malfoy. I could just do without having to come up with tactics and sharing them with the rest of the team. Wood's let the power go to his head. Let's hope the next captain isn't as zealous."

"I still don't get why I have to come," Hermione said from where she sitting huddled up next to Harry. Of course she wanted to watch the match and support Draco, but she couldn't appear keen so some complaining was in order.

"You're showing house solidarity," Ron remarked as he wrapped his scarf tighter around his neck. It was bitter cold and a slight frost was starting to develop, meaning it wasn't the ideal weather to watch quidditch.

"But Gryffindor aren't even playing," Hermione pointed out. "Let's hope it's a quick game."

"Let's hope Malfoy is still struggling with his arm," Ron said with a malicious smirk. "Wouldn't it be hilarious, if he was still struggling and Flint had to remove him from the team? Slytherin have delayed as long as they can, and I heard Madam Hooch say there would be no more postponed matches for them this year."

"I'm sure Malfoy wouldn't be playing if he wasn't up to it," Harry replied. He knew for a fact that Draco was fully fit and had been for some time.

"Well, let's hope he fails," Ron muttered as Madam Hooch flew onto the pitch followed by the players from both teams.

Harry and Hermione ignored Ron's remark as they watched the two teams get into position. Once the captains had shaken hands, Madam Hooch released the balls and the match was in play. Immediately, Draco soared up above the crowds and began to lap the stadium as she scoured for the snitch.

"I don't think there's much wrong with Malfoy," Harry remarked as he watched his best friend fly around the stadium with ease.

"Of course not, his entire injury was faked to get Hagrid into trouble," Ron grumbled. "Dumbledore really should do something about him."

Hermione raised a questioning eyebrow at Ron. "Like what? Expel him for being a Slytherin?"

"If only it worked that way," Ron sighed wistfully, not picking up on Hermione's sarcastic tone.

"Don't," Harry whispered to Hermione, sensing she was going to start arguing with Ron. Sometimes he felt it was a full time job keeping Hermione calm and making sure she didn't do anything reckless that would blow their secret.

Hermione gave Harry a grateful smile as she took a deep breath and turned her attention back to the match. A few minutes later she felt a presence beside her and looked up to find a breathless Ginny settling down in the empty seat on her right hand side.

"Have I missed much?" Ginny asked. "I was studying and I fell asleep."

"A few goals," Hermione replied. "Malfoy's flying rings around Cedric Diggory, but neither of them have caught sight of the snitch yet."

Hermione had no sooner finished speaking when Draco suddenly flew down from the sky above them, hurtling towards the pitch at break neck speed. Cedric was right on Draco's tail, and he went soaring past the blond when he abruptly stopped in mid-air. The second Cedric had passed him, Draco turned his broom around and went flying in the opposite direction, aiming directly for a tiny golden ball fluttering in front of the Ravenclaw stand. By the time Cedric and the crowd realised the Hufflepuff seeker had been fooled, Draco was clutching the golden snitch in his hand.

"Slytherin win," Madam Hooch announced as she blew her whistle.

"Wow," Ginny gushed in awe. "He's so impressive. Did you see the way he fooled Cedric? Draco's so clever, and oh so beautiful."

"It was luck," Ron snarled, glaring at his little sister. "Harry could do better."

"I don't know," Harry said. "I've never caught the snitch that fast. The game hasn't even lasted half an hour."

"As I said, luck," Ron repeated, unwilling to admit Draco had played a great game. "Don't worry Harry, you'll beat him."

"I'm not too sure Wood will have had any luck with his tactics," Harry remarked as the trio joined the crowds leaving the stand. Ginny was still standing at the front of the stand, watching Draco celebrating with his team and he was hoping they could get away before she attached herself to them. "The match wasn't long enough for anyone to get any information on the team. They just didn't have a chance to do anything."

"That's not quite true," Hermione corrected. "They scored three goals, saved two and caught the snitch. For less than half an hours play, I'd say that was pretty good work."

"It is when you put it like that," Harry said. "Let's just hope it doesn't make Wood order more practice sessions."

Unfortunately for Harry, that's exactly what Oliver did do. Less than an hour after Slytherin had thrashed Hufflepuff, Oliver had spoken to every member of his team and told them they would be upping their training sessions to four times a week. He was determined to win the quidditch cup, and he certainly wasn't planning on letting a very good Slytherin team ruin his dream.

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

* * *

Three weeks after Slytherins triumph over Hufflepuff, Hermione was settling in the quidditch stands once again to watch Harry and the Gryffindors play the house in yellow and black. Ironically instead of just postponing the Gryffindor vs Slytherin game and making it the last match of the season, Madam Hooch had rearranged the entire schedule, meaning the timing of some matches were slightly strange.

"Now Harry's going to show Malfoy how it's really done," Ron announced as he eagerly rubbed his hands together in glee.

"I'm not so sure the weather's really right for a fast game," Hermione remarked.

In the last three weeks, the weather had been terrible. It had either snowed or rained every day, and at the minute the air was damp and there was a fine drizzle around. Visibility also wasn't at its best and Hermione really couldn't see Harry grabbing the snitch as fast as Draco had done a few weeks earlier.

"A bit of rain won't stop Harry," Ron replied confidently.

Knowing it was pointless to argue with Ron, Hermione settled for settling back in her seat to wait for the action to begin. Just as Madam Hooch and the players emerged onto the pitch and flew up into the air, Hermione got her eye on the Professors stand, or more accurately the part of the stand on the ground. Peering into the drizzling shade, Hermione could swear she could see a shape under the stand. As she continued to stare, Hermione realised the shape was the black dog they'd seen a couple of times before Christmas.

"What is it?" Ron asked, nudging Hermione in the side. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Hermione replied with a frown. She knew Ron would just start rambling on about the grim, but Hermione didn't for one minutes believe such nonsense. The dog clearly meant something, but she wasn't sure what. It looked like some research was in order once she'd finished watching Harry playing quidditch.

"Then pay attention," Ron snapped. "The match is about to begin."

Tearing her eyes away from the black dog, Hermione refocused her attention the quidditch match. The players were just getting into position and once Madam Hooch blew her whistle the game began. Unlike Draco, Harry didn't immediately go soaring above the stadium. Instead he slowly flew around the stadium as he got used to conditions.

"Maybe you're right," Ron conceded after ten minutes of very little action. Even the other players were struggling with their balls, and the quaffles and bludgers were so much bigger than the tiny snitch Harry was supposed to find. "This isn't ideal weather for quidditch."

"It's not ideal weather for watching it either," Hermione said with a shiver.

"It is a bit nippy," Ron agreed as he pulled his hat further down on his head.

Another ten minutes passed without much action, and unfortunately the weather just continued to get worse. By the time the game had been going for half an hour, only a handful of goals had been scored and there was no sign of either Harry or Cedric getting their eye on the snitch. In fact the rain was now coming down so hard that the spectators were struggling to see the players.

"This is ridiculous," Hermione tutted. "The game can't continue in such bad weather."

"Quidditch games are rarely called off, Hermione," Ron said. "Even school games are played unless it's necessary to end them early. I don't suppose a bit of rain will make Madam Hooch call it a day."

"Of course not, why let common sense stand in the way of a quidditch match," Hermione retorted with an unimpressed snort.

Muttering to herself about how stupid, and potentially dangerous it was to continue playing, Hermione tried to locate Harry. Finally she spotted him over the other side of the stadium, and she decided not to take her eyes off him for the rest of the match. Although, keeping an eye on Harry was easier said than done and a couple of times Hermione briefly lost sight of her nephew. Luckily she was always able to locate him fairly quickly, and as a result she spotted him suddenly flying off with purpose.

"I think Harry's caught sight of the snitch," Hermione said to Ron, pointing to where their friend was flying.

"Go Harry!" Ron called as he also caught sight of Harry dashing after something.

The pair watched Harry fly around the stadium for a couple of minutes, before a dark shadow suddenly appeared above him. The shadow clearly startled Harry and once he spotted the cloaked figure he did his best to outrun it.

"It's a Dementor," Hermione cried, jumping to her feet as she got a good look at what was chasing Harry.

"Move Harry," Ron shouted, also getting to his feet. "Get out of the way."

Harry of course couldn't hear any warnings his friends were shouting to him. Not that it would matter if he had as the Dementor had locked onto him and wasn't backing off. Down in the stands, Hermione and Ron watched in horror as the Dementor got right in Harry's face. The sudden movement from the Dementor unsettled Harry and as he tried to back away he lost his balance and went tumbling from his broomstick.

"Harry!" Hermione cried as she spotted her nephew tumbling through the sky.

Pulling out her wand she racked her brains to think of anything that could help Harry survive his fall. Luckily, she and Ron weren't the only ones who'd spotted Harry's troubles. Over in the Professors stand, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Severus were working together to ensure that Harry made it to the ground safely.

"Let's go," Hermione called, turning and pushing her way through the crowds before Harry had even landed.

With Ron right behind her, she flew down to the pitch. Above her Madam Hooch had called off the game, and slowly the other players were returning to the ground. As Hermione darted out onto the pitch, she spotted the black dog lurking under the Professors stand. However, she didn't have time to worry about mysterious dogs. Harry was her top priority.

"Harry," She called, rushing over to where he was lying motionless on the ground.

Because of their youth, Hermione and Ron had reached Harry before anyone else, but they had only just knelt down to check on him when the Professors arrived. Ignoring the fact Dumbledore was standing behind her, Hermione checked Harry had a pulse. Luckily he was still breathing, although the fall seemed to have knocked him out somehow.

"He's alive," She announced.

"Let's get him up to the hospital wing," Dumbledore said, taking charge. "Severus, can you see to that?"

"Of course," Severus replied, looking relieved to be dealing with his son as he stepped forward to gently levitate him into the air.

"How is he unconscious?" McGonagall asked with a frown. "Did we knock him out when we landed him?"

"He hit his head off his broomstick," Ron supplied. "Just before you started the spell, his broom crashed into his head before it went soaring off over the back of the stadium."

"Mr Weasley, will you be able to go and look for the broomstick?" Dumbledore asked. "I'm sure Harry doesn't want to lose it in all the chaos. As for this match, I propose we share the points between the two teams and get everyone back indoors before we all catch a cold."

"What are you going to do about the Dementors?" Hermione asked as Ron headed off with the twins to try and locate Harry's broom.

"Dementors?" Dumbledore looked at Hermione with a frown, not understanding what she was talking about.

"It was a Dementor that caused Harry's accident," Hermione explained. "Ron and I saw it. It focused in on Harry, and caused him to fall off his broom."

"I'll look into it," Dumbledore vowed. "And you have my word that if the Dementors did indeed approach Harry, there will be trouble."

"They did approach him, or at least one did," Hermione said, before she turned and headed into school.

Wondering why the Dementors had approached Harry when they were banned from interacting with the students, Hermione headed up to the hospital wing. When she entered, she was relieved to find Harry was awake and sitting up. Madam Pomfrey was fussing over him and checking he was alright, while Severus was standing at the bottom of the bed with a frown on his face.

"Hey," Hermione said as she approached her best friend. "How are you?"

"I've got a sore head, but otherwise I'm fine," Harry replied.

"I'll be the judge of that," Madam Pomfrey tutted. "You had a nasty experience, and I want to keep an eye on you for the next few hours. I'm afraid, you're staying with me tonight, Mr Potter."

"Lovely," Harry said with a sarcastic roll of his eyes.

"I told Dumbledore what happened," Hermione said as Madam Pomfrey headed into her office for a few potions she wanted to give Harry. "About the Dementor."

"Dementor?" Severus questioned.

"Yeah, one of the things attacked me," Harry told his father. "It appeared out of nowhere, and when I tried to fly away it came after me. It did some sort of weird thing where I went all cold and lost control of my body. That's when I fell."

"It either affected you pretty badly, or it tried to give you the kiss," Severus muttered darkly. "Either way, I'm not happy. I'm going to go and speak to Dumbledore and make sure he's taking this seriously. We need to do something about these Dementors before they really hurt Harry or anyone else."

As Severus turned and swept out of the hospital wing, Ron entered carrying an armful of twigs. It wasn't until he reached the bed that Hermione realised the twigs were a broken broomstick.

"Is that my broom?" Harry asked.

"Sorry mate," Ron said sympathetically as he dumped the remains on the bed. "The twins found it crashed against a tree. The force of the impact must have smashed it to smithereens."

"It could be worse," Harry said as he fingered a couple of broken bits of wood. "I could have gone flying into a tree. At least I'm safe."

"That's the important thing," Hermione agreed with a smile as Madam Pomfrey returned from her office.

The medi-witch immediately scolded Ron for placing the broken broom on the bed, and after reassuring Hermione and Ron that Harry was in no serious danger she ushered them out of the hospital wing. However, they did get permission to visit after dinner. Although for Harry, he was stuck spending a night in the hospital wing as Madam Pomfrey checked he wasn't having any adverse effects after being attacked by a Dementor and falling off his broom.


	14. Chapter 14

The day after being released from the hospital wing, Harry decided to go and pay Lupin a visit. After his experiences the previous day he thought it was the perfect time to try and find out what the older wizard knew about Sirius Black. Harry had already been confident that Lupin would trust him, but the incident with the Dementors had really worked in his favour. Now he had a genuine reason why he was wanting the help of the Defence Professor.

After having breakfast with Hermione and Ron, and reassuring them that he was perfectly fine, Harry set off to Lupin's office. With it being a weekend there was no classes and he was just hoping the Defence Professor was around. Luckily Lupin answered his office door immediately and ushered Harry inside.

"How are you feeling, Harry?" Lupin asked as he offered the teenager a seat in front of his desk.

"Okay," Harry replied. "Although I'm gutted about my broomstick. I guess I'll have to play the remaining matches of the season on a school broom."

"It is unfortunate about your broom," Lupin agreed. "But how are you feeling after you run in with another Dementor?"

"I'm worried," Harry answered. "Why did it come after me? Am I doing something wrong?"

"I don't know why it targeted you, Harry," Lupin confessed. "Professor Dumbledore is furious that the Dementors approached you yesterday, and he's trying to find out why they were so close to students. However, I'm not sure we'll get many answers from them."

"I don't like the things, they're scary," Harry said. "I was wondering if you could help me defend myself from them. You talked about some sort of charm in the first lesson."

"The patronus charm," Lupin supplied. "The Dementors feed on negative memories and feelings, whereas the patronus charm works using strong and happy memories. If wielded correctly, happy memories are stronger than bad memories."

"Can you teach me how to perform the charm?" Harry asked.

"The Dementors do seem have focused on you, so I think it's a good idea for you to have protection," Lupin agreed. "Unfortunately, we can't use an actual Dementor for you to practice with. I would have suggested a boggart, but for some reason the castle is boggart free at the moment. Apart from that first one I found, I haven't been able to find another one."

Harry tried his best not to smirk as he knew full well the reason why Lupin couldn't find any boggarts was because of his father. "Do we really need a boggart?"

"No we don't," Lupin answered. "It just might take longer to master without something to focus on."

"Harder, but not impossible?" Harry checked.

"No, not impossible," Lupin confirmed. "I'm sure we can master it together."

Clearing a space in his office, Lupin set about teaching Harry the patronus charm. However, after ten minutes Harry still hadn't managed to produce any sort of charm. Lupin had showed him his patronus, which looked like a wispy cloud of silver smoke.

"I thought the charm was supposed to take the form of an animal," Harry said when Lupin demonstrated his patronus for the third time and it still had no solid shape.

"A really solid charm can," Lupin replied.

He then quickly produced a solid patronus, but he got rid of it before Harry could really make out what sort of animal it was. All Harry had been able to work out was that Lupin's patronus took the form of a large, four legged creature.

"I'd settle for just a bit of something," Harry muttered. He wasn't like Hermione, who expected to master everything at once, but he was starting to get a bit frustrated that he didn't even feel anything when he tried to do the charm.

"What memories are you using?" Lupin asked. The first thing he'd told Harry was to think of his happiest memory.

"The first time I flew," Harry replied. He knew Lupin would think it was a recent memory, but the first time he took to the skies he'd had Draco at his side and it had been a memory that had stayed with him all these years.

"It needs to be stronger than that," Lupin said with a regretful nod.

"What do you think about?" Harry asked. He guessed thinking about his family would be a strong enough memory, but he was going to use the opportunity to try and quiz Lupin.

"My time at Hogwarts," Lupin answered. "I always think about the friends I made while I was here. My years at Hogwarts were the best of my life."

"Do you not end up getting sad when you think about your friends and remember they're all gone?" Harry asked.

"It does sometimes get to me," Lupin admitted as the pair sat down to have a break from their lesson. "But I just try and think of the good times. James and Sirius were my best friends, and I'll never forget the fun times we had together."

"Wasn't there another boy in your group of friends? The one Sirius killed."

"Peter," Lupin said. "He was friends with us, but he never quite fit in the same way. He was always more on the outskirts of our friendship. To be honest, so was I to a certain extent. James and Sirius were as thick as thieves, and even I couldn't break in between them. Not that I wanted to, mind you. I was just happy being their friend, I didn't need the special bond those two had."

"Is that why you're so convinced, Sirius is innocent?" Harry asked. "Before we boarded the train, Arthur Weasley told me that Sirius betrayed my parents. But you said he didn't."

"There's no way Sirius would have betrayed James and Lily," Lupin insisted. "He would have died before giving You-Know-Who any information about them. When we found out they'd died, he was inconsolable. I reckon it was part of the reason he went after Peter and reacted the way he did. He knows it was reckless and stupid, but he was just so devastated after losing James."

"But wasn't this Peter also their friend?" Harry asked. "Why would he betray them?"

"Peter would do anything for an easy life," Lupin replied with a shrug. "If he'd found himself in a situation where it was his life or James and Lily's, he wouldn't have hesitated in selling your parents out. I know some people believe Sirius bullied Peter into confessing to being a spy for the dark, but I was there and he didn't."

"But Sirius is still a killer."

Lupin sighed sadly as he nodded his head. "Unfortunately. Sirius was an idiot when he went after Peter. He regrets flying off the handle the way he did, but knowing Sirius he'd do it again if he had to."

"Do you know why he's broke out of Azkaban?" Harry asked. "Why now? He's been there for thirteen years. Why break out now?"

Lupin shrugged his shoulder as he got to his feet and started pulling the furniture back into place. "I have no idea why Sirius does the things he does. Now let's call it a day. Try and think of a more positive memory, and when you're ready to practice again come and find me."

"Thanks sir," Harry replied, getting to his feet. He recognised a dismissal when he heard one, and he also recognised when people were being evasive. Lupin knew more than he was letting on, Harry was certain of it.

Promising to be back soon, Harry exited Lupin's office and headed for the library. Sneaking into the secret room, he found both Hermione and Draco sitting doing some homework together. Settling down beside the pair, he proceeded to tell them all about his morning with Lupin. Hopefully more private lessons would lead to more revelations, but for the time being Harry thought he'd done well at getting Lupin to open up. With a bit of luck he'd soon be sharing a lot more secrets.

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

* * *

Sitting eating his breakfast, Harry tried his best to ignore the bickering going on beside him. Ron was struggling with his Potions essay and was supposed to be begging Hermione for help, only instead of just asking if she could give him some pointers, he'd asked if he could borrow her work to copy. Of course, Hermione had refused to allow Ron to blatantly copy off her, leading him to accuse her of being mean spirited.

"Why won't you help," Ron whined. "You've helped before."

"Yes, I've helped. I've never given you the answers," Hermione retorted.

"But I don't have time to do the work from scratch," Ron argued. "We have Potions this afternoon, and I've done nothing."

"You should have asked for my help earlier then," Hermione replied with a casual shrug.

"I forgot," Ron muttered. It was only when he'd spotted Neville asking Hermione to double check his work a few minutes earlier that he'd even remembered about the assignment.

"That is not my fault, Ronald," Hermione replied primly. "You should keep a better note of your assignments. Maybe if you had an organiser or a diary you wouldn't forget to do your homework."

"I still wouldn't have been able to do it," Ron grumbled. "I don't understand half the stuff in Snape's lesson."

"And copying someone else's work isn't going to help with that," Hermione said. "If you're really struggling with the work you need to go and see Professor Snape. He might be able to give you extra tuition, or arrange something with one of the older students."

"Are you mad?" Ron asked with wide eyes as he accidentally spit his pumpkin juice all over his scrambled egg. "I'm not going to Snape for help."

"Then it looks like you're doomed to not understand potions," Hermione answered as she turned back to her own breakfast.

"Great, I'm going to get detention now," Ron complained. Glaring at Hermione, he pushed his tainted scrambled eggs to one side and filled a fresh plate with sausage and bacon.

Once he was sure the bickering has stopped, Harry finally raised his head. He'd deliberately avoided eye contact with them during their argument as he'd no desire to be sucked into one of their sniping sessions. Even though he made sure he kept Hermione in line with her temper, sometimes he just let the pair of them get on with it. If he refereed every single argument between the pair, he'd do nothing else all day.

Just as Harry raised his head, the post owls swept into the Great Hall. Not expecting anything, he returned his attention to his breakfast, but the gasps around the room had him pulling his head back up. Looking back up at the owls he let out his own gasp at the sight of half a dozen owls, carrying something long and thin in their claws. As the owls swept towards the Gryffindor table, everyone's attention was on them. It was now clear they were carrying a broomstick, although it was wrapped up its shape was a definite give away.

"Who's the parcel for?" One of the Hufflepuffs called as the birds dropped the parcel in the centre of the table, right in front of Harry and his friends.

Ron quickly stood up and read the label on the parcel, before turning back to Harry with a puzzle frown. "It's for you."

"Me?" Harry was just as confused as he also stood up and examined the parcel.

"I wonder what it is," Ron mused.

"Yes, because it's not at all obvious it's a broomstick," Hermione muttered with a roll of her eyes.

"Who's it from?" Ron asked, ignoring Hermione's jibe.

"It doesn't say," Harry replied, checking the parcel and finding no return label.

"Open it then, Harry," Dean urged from across the table.

Glancing up at the Professors table, Harry found all the Professors watching him with interest. His father was watching him with a frown on his face and Harry instantly knew the broomstick wasn't from Severus. He even doubted it was from his grandfather as he suspected his father would have known all about it, and Severus did not look like someone who knew what was going on.

Turning back to the package, Harry tore open the brown paper. As expected it was a broomstick, but even Harry was surprised to find a Firebolt inside the parcel.

"Whoa, a Firebolt," Seamus gasped, loud enough for the word to start spreading around the Great Hall.

"Where did it come from?" Neville asked suspiciously.

"I have no idea," Harry admitted. After searching the entire parcel, there was still no clue as to where the broom had come from. There was no note inside the parcel, and the only information on the outside of the parcel was Harry's name.

"Did you not send away for a new broom after yours was broken at the weekend?" Dean asked.

"No, I was going to wait until the summer before getting a new broom," Harry answered.

"Who cares where it came from, it's a Firebolt," Ron said, gazing lovingly at the broom. "I wish someone would send me a Firebolt."

"I don't like it," Hermione said, looking at the broomstick lying in front of her nephew. "Firebolts are expensive, why would someone send one to Harry? And more importantly, why wouldn't they send a note saying who it was from?"

"You have to make everything depressing, don't you?" Ron snapped at Hermione. "Why can't you just let Harry be happy? Someone's been kind enough to buy him a new broom, I say we go outside at break time and try it out."

"Yeah, and if it's cursed Harry could have a nasty accident," Hermione shot back.

"It's not cursed," Ron tutted. "You're such a drama queen. Don't listen to her Harry, she's just a killjoy."

"She's right," Harry said, much to Ron's obvious horror. "Why would anyone send me a Firebolt? It just doesn't feel right."

"We can take it to Professor McGonagall and let her sort it out," Hermione suggested.

"Yeah, let's do that," Harry agreed with a nod.

"The pair of you are mad," Ron spat as he got to his feet in disgust.

"Better safe than sorry," Harry said.

"Absolutely mad," Ron repeated. With one final shake of his head, he turned and stalked out of the Great Hall.

Ignoring Ron, and the strange looks they were receiving from everyone else, Harry and Hermione took the broomstick and its packaging up to the Professors table and handed it over to McGonagall. While they were explaining their worries, Severus gave them a subtle nod to let them know he agreed with their decision. At the sight, Harry let out a small, relieved sigh. Even though he'd been fairly confident the Firebolt had nothing to do with his grandfather, it was still reassuring to know they hadn't made a huge mistake in handing the broomstick over to McGonagall.

"We'll check it out thoroughly and try to get to the bottom of this," McGonagall reassured Harry.

"Thank you, Professor," Harry said, his eyes flicking over to Lupin who was watching proceedings with a frown. Suddenly he had a sneaking suspicion where the broomstick had come from.

As Harry and Hermione turned and walked away from the Professors table, they shared a look and Harry knew Hermione had also noticed Lupin's reaction. He knew something about the Firebolt, of that they were both certain. But did he send it himself, which seemed unlikely considering his shabby clothes indicated he didn't have much money. Or a more likely scenario was that he'd helped Sirius send the broomstick to Harry. Although what they hoped to achieve by sending an anonymous gift was anyone's guess. They would just have to wait and see what happened when McGonagall had finished her examinations of the broomstick.


	15. Chapter 15

Two weeks after receiving the mystery Firebolt, McGonagall stopped Harry after Transfiguration to let him know it had been checked over thoroughly and was curse free. Since Transfiguration was the class before lunch, Hermione and Ron had stopped in the classroom with Harry and they were with him when he received the news his broomstick was safe to use.

"Did you work out who sent it?" Harry asked.

"I'm afraid not," McGonagall said with a sigh. "Every quidditch shop in the country is selling Firebolts in droves. We can't track it to one shop."

"So we still have no idea who sent it, or why," Harry said.

"Does it matter?" Ron asked. "It's curse free. Isn't that the important thing?"

"Are you sure it's safe to fly?" Harry checked with McGonagall.

"Perfectly," McGonagall replied.

Harry nodded. "Good. In that case I want it to be given to charity, or something like that. Give it to a children's home, or auction it off to raise money for a charity."

McGonagall looked at Harry in complete shock while beside him, Ron was turning positively purple as he struggled to find the words. Hermione also seemed shocked by the announcement, but she was also amused at the trouble her nephew would undoubtedly cause with his decision.

"You don't want the broomstick?" McGonagall questioned, her surprise evident in her voice.

"Not when I don't know who sent me it and why," Harry replied. "I don't know anyone who would send me a gift like that, and even if I did they would have the sense to at least sign their name or something. Call me suspicious, but I don't trust that whoever sent the broom is doing it out of the kindness of their heart."

"But are you sure you want to give it away?" McGonagall checked. "From what I understand, a Firebolt is an expensive broomstick."

"It is, but I can buy my own if I want one," Harry said. "I've been thinking about this for a while, Professor. I know I'll never be able to use the broom not knowing where it's come from, so I figured we could make someone else happy."

"I can donate it to St Mungo's for their children's ward," McGonagall said after a moment's thought. "I'm sure a few ill children would love to have a spin on a Firebolt."

"That sounds great," Harry replied with a smile.

"Leave it with me, and I'll organise it," McGonagall said. "Now the three of you better run along before you miss lunch entirely."

Thanking McGonagall one final time, Harry led the way out of the classroom. Ron trailed slightly behind Harry and Hermione and they'd reached the ground floor before he managed to find his voice.

"Unbelievable," He muttered as he followed the other two into the Great Hall. "Are you sure you're thinking clearly, Harry?"

"Yes," Harry answered as they took their seats.

"What's going on?" Dean asked. "Have you got your broom back, Harry?"

"The broom was curse free, but I don't have it," Harry replied as he began to sort out what he wanted for his dinner.

"McGonagall didn't confiscate it, did she?" Seamus asked. Everyone had heard McGonagall asking Harry to stay behind and they were all hoping that he would have his Firebolt back in his possession by the end of the day so they could have a bit of fun testing it out.

"No, she didn't confiscate it," Harry said.

"He gave it away," Ron blurted before Harry got a chance to explain.

"What?" Seamus frowned. "I'm confused."

"Harry gave the broomstick away," Ron spat in disgust. "He told McGonagall to give it to charity?"

"Why?" Dean asked.

"Because I don't know where it came from, and I'm not interested in receiving gifts from an anonymous person," Harry answered.

"He's mad," Ron said. "Barking mad, I tell you."

"I think it was very nice gesture," Hermione said to Harry as she glared at Ron. "And I think you're right to be wary of the broomstick. I still say there's something dodgy going on."

"It's no longer an issue now. The broomstick is gone, and that's the end of that," Harry said, ending the discussion before anyone else voiced an opinion.

Of course just because Harry refused to talk about the Firebolt didn't mean the conversation wasn't still ongoing. Word quickly spread down the Gryffindor table about what was happening, which of course led to gossip spreading to the other three house tables as well. By the time lunch was over, everyone knew that Harry had given away the Firebolt that he'd received a fortnight ago.

"You would think I'd given away something Ron had given me the way he's going on," Harry muttered to Hermione as they left the Great Hall to head to Defence against the Dark Arts. Ron had jumped up before them and headed off with Dean and Seamus, pointedly ignoring Harry.

"Just ignore him," Hermione said with a shrug. She did want to tell Harry that he should enjoy the peace of Ron not talking to him, but there was people around and she didn't want to be overheard and give people a reason to question her.

Entering the Defence classroom, Hermione and Harry took their seats and pulled out their books. The pair always sat together in the lesson, and Ron sat with Neville so it wasn't as if they were going to notice that the redhead was ignoring Harry.

"Where were we?" Harry asked, flicking through the book.

"Chapter ten," Hermione answered. "Red Caps and Hinkypunks."

Harry had just opened his book to the correct page when the door to the classroom flew open and Severus strode into the room. As he did so, he flicked his wand at the windows, causing all the shutters to slam shut. By the time he reached the desk at the front of the class, the Defence classroom was as dark as his Potions classroom.

"Since your normal Professor is ill, I'll be taking the lesson today," Severus announced. "Turn to chapter fifteen in your books."

Hermione frowned in confusion as she flicked forward and found the appropriate chapter. "Werewolves? But we're not onto werewolves yet."

"If I needed your opinion Miss Granger, I would ask for it. Ten points from Gryffindor," Severus said, drawing laughter from the Slytherins in the back of the room. "Now who can tell me the difference between a werewolf and an animagus?"

Hermione instantly rose her hand and began to answer the question. "An animagus chooses to turn into an animal, while a werewolf has no choice in the matter."

From the back of the classroom, Draco let out a howl, causing the Slytherins to laugh even more. Harry lowered his head so no-one could see the smirk on his face, whereas Severus briefly let a flicker of amusement to wash over his features before returning to his normal stoic self.

"Thank you Mr Malfoy," Severus drawled. "And another ten points from Gryffindor for Miss Granger speaking out of turn. Next time, wait to be asked before answering questions."

Hermione glared at her brother, not at all happy with his attitude. She knew he was always hard on Gryffindors and made no exceptions for her and Harry, but she felt as though he'd done nothing but pick on her since he entered the room. As her brother asked more questions, Hermione kept her hand down and remained silent. Even though she knew every answer, she knew her brother wouldn't call on her so she would be wasting her time in even attempting to answer the questions.

"I want you to read the chapter and write me an essay on the ways to identify a werewolf," Severus announced. "The essay must be four foot long, and anything that isn't finished in class will be completed as homework that will be handed in to me in your next Potions lesson."

"But that's tomorrow," Ron protested.

"Very good, Mr Weasley, you know your timetable," Severus drawled, creating more laughter from the Slytherins. "Settle down and get on with your work," He ordered the class, before settling down at the desk and glaring at anyone who hadn't immediately buried their head in their book.

The chapter on werewolves was long and detailed, and even Hermione only had a small portion of time to begin her essay. By the time the bell rang, she'd only had time to make a few notes. She would have to finish the rest of the essay in the library with the rest of her homework.

"Well that was fun," Harry remarked as they exited Defence against the Dark Arts. "Wasn't it supposed to help us?"

"It did," Hermione replied quietly. Luckily they still hadn't been joined by Ron so they had an opportunity to talk. "We'll have to finish the essay tonight. Try it make it to the library, and try to get Draco. We've got a lot to discuss."

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

* * *

"A werewolf?" Harry looked at Hermione as though she was crazy. "You think Lupin's a werewolf?"

"I do," Hermione answered with a nod.

Hermione, Harry and Draco were in their secret room, and the boys had no sooner arrived than Hermione had shared her theory. Draco had immediately jumped on board with her theory, whereas Harry was sceptical. He knew Severus had promised he would let them in on Lupin's secret when he could, but he wasn't sure if Hermione had taken him too literal and had jumped on the first thing she could think of. Maybe his father was letting them know Lupin was an unregistered animagus. They'd already learnt about animagus' in McGonagall's lesson since she was one and she'd mentioned that every animagus had to be registered with the Ministry.

Of course when Harry shared his theory, both Hermione and Draco laughed it off. True, an unregistered animagus would be a reason for Lupin to lose his job as a Professor, but if it was something like that Severus would have made sure they caught Lupin in the act.

"But why do you think he's a werewolf?" Harry asked. "You have to have more evidence other than it was what chapter Dad made us read today."

"Do you know what today is, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Thursday," Harry answered with a smirk.

"It's the full moon," Hermione answered. "And Professor Lupin hasn't been seen today, and my guess is he'll not be seen tomorrow either. I've also checked the other days he's been off 'ill' and they all fall on either side of the full moon."

"And in the chapter we read this afternoon it mentioned that werewolves are prone to feeling the effects of the moon the day of the full moon," Draco added. While he hadn't quite pieced together the clues about Lupin as quick as Hermione, once she'd shared her theory he'd been right with her in spotting the signs. "They don't turn until the night, but they can be dangerous to be around in the hours leading up to the full moon."

"And the day afterwards, they're often said to be lethargic," Hermione said, taking up with the explanation. "The effect can actually last a few days, and you've seen just how worn and tired Lupin can look."

"I guess he does often look sickly and tired," Harry admitted with a nod.

"I'm sure if we go through everything we can find some other signs," Hermione said. "But I'm confident that Professor Lupin is a werewolf."

"And may I just say, how utterly dangerous this is," Draco said with an unimpressed sneer. "I know Dumbledore is lacking in the sanity department, but this is bad even for him. How the hell can he hire a werewolf as a Professor and not inform the parents? Father will get Lupin sacked without even having to try."

"If we're right," Harry said cautiously. "We need to check everything before informing Lucius of our deductions."

"We're right," Draco said confidently. "Just think about that first lesson with the boggart when he stepped in front of you. His boggart was the moon."

"Whoa, you're right," Harry whispered as he thought about what Draco had just said. As he did, he thought about the one time Lupin had cast a solid patronus and the form it had taken. "And I think his patronus is a wolf, although he got rid of it before I really got the chance to see it clearly. But it's a big animal with four legs."

"It makes sense," Hermione said with a nod. "Patronus' are said to take an animal form that relates to the person, even if they don't always like the connection. I'm guessing Lupin doesn't like to be reminded of his lycanthropy."

"Who would want to be reminded they're a werewolf?" Draco questioned. "If I was a werewolf, I wouldn't want to be reminded of that fact."

"If Lupin is a werewolf, how is he being controlled on nights like tonight?" Harry asked. "How is Dumbledore so sure he's not going to escape and maim the students?"

"He's probably got him locked up somewhere," Draco answered with a shrug. "I'm sure Father will find out when we let him know what's going on."

"Let's do the homework, and make a separate list of everything we know about Lupin," Hermione suggested. "If by the end of the night we're confident we've reached the right decision, Draco can write to his father and let him know what we've concluded."

By the time the trio had finished their assignment they were more convinced than ever that Lupin was a werewolf. Even Harry's doubts had gone and he was fully on board with the theory regarding Lupin's big secret. Know all they had to do was let Lucius know what was going on, and he would take it from there. In a few weeks, they doubted they'd have to deal with Lupin anymore as none of them thought he would be in Hogwarts long enough to see another full moon.


	16. Chapter 16

After writing to his father, making sure the letter read as though he'd come up with his theories about Lupin by himself in case Lucius wanted to show it to anyone, Draco had expected an immediate response. He was left totally shocked when no letter from home arrived over breakfast on Friday morning. When no letter had arrived by the end of the day, Draco convinced himself one would turn up on Saturday morning. However when Saturday morning dawned and the post owls made an appearance, his distinctive eagle owl was nowhere to be seen. By lunchtime on Saturday, Draco was beginning to wonder if they'd made a mistake. Maybe the reason his father hadn't written to him was because they were wrong and Lupin wasn't a werewolf.

"Hey Draco, isn't that your owl?" Theo asked, elbowing Draco in the ribs and pulling him out of his thoughts.

Looking up, Draco grinned slyly as he spotted his owl soaring towards him. Since mail was normally delivered on a morning, people were surprised to see an owl in the Great Hall and it was attracting a great deal of attention as it landed in front of Draco. Untying the letter from around his owl's ankle, he fed his bird a few scraps before it took off and left the hall.

"Something must be important for your parents to write in the middle of the day," Blaise remarked as Draco began to open his letter.

"Maybe," Draco replied nonchalantly as he pulled the parchment from the envelope and read what his father had to say.

Like the letter he had written to his father, Lucius had written as though they were discussing something completely new. Anyone reading the letter wouldn't have any idea that Draco had given Lucius information he already knew. In the letter Lucius promised he would look into Draco's theories, and he casually asked if he'd shared his opinions with his friends. Reading between the lines, Draco knew his father was telling him to start spreading the word about Lupin. Casually he placed the letter onto the table, where both Blaise and Theo could see it.

"Anything interesting?" Blaise asked as he craned his neck to read what Draco's father had written. The fact Draco had placed the letter on the table meant it wasn't private. If he hadn't wanted anyone to read it, he would have put it away without letting anyone near it.

"What is all this?" Theo asked, also reading the letter. "What worries do you have about Lupin? Well, apart from the fact the man is the unhealthiest person I've come across. He's sick every month like clockwork. If he was a woman, I'd say he had feminine issues."

"More like lunar issues," Draco said.

"Luna? The strange girl in Ravenclaw?" Blaise frowned.

"No, lunar as in moon," Draco corrected as he wondered who on earth Luna was, or why his friend had noticed a girl who was supposedly strange.

"Lupin had issues with the moon?" Theo checked, giving Draco a look that implied he was losing his mind.

"I think he has an issue with the full moon," Draco said pointedly, smirking when he saw the realisation dawn in his two friends' eyes.

"Bloody hell, he's a werewolf," Theo declared loudly, causing a few people to look at him oddly.

"I think so," Draco said with a nod.

"Did you just say werewolf?" Pansy asked, leaning across the table. "Who's a werewolf?"

"Lupin," Blaise replied. "Or at least Draco thinks he is."

Draco quickly filled his friends in on what Hermione had noticed, although he made it sound as though it was all his theory. Even after a few points, his friends were picking up the trail and connecting the dots on their own. Of course, now the topic had been raised, it soon started to spread across the Slytherin table. By the end of lunchtime all of Slytherin were convinced Lupin was a werewolf. Now they just had to wait and see how long it took for the rest of the school to get caught up with the latest gossip.

"Do we do anything?" Daphne worriedly asked as the group left the Great Hall and headed back to the dungeons.

"Father's going to look into it, but I don't suppose it'll hurt to write to your parents," Draco suggested.

Of course Draco's suggestion was met by eager enthusiasm from the Slytherins and by the end of the afternoon, almost everyone had written to their parents. The owlrey had never been so busy on a Saturday afternoon before and there was a queue trailing all the way out of the door as the Slytherins sent owls to their parents. Of course all of Draco's friends wrote to their parents, and the group made the trip up to the owlrey just before dinner.

"Wow, it's still so busy," Theo remarked as they entered the room and found several Slytherins tying letters to school owls.

Once everyone had sent their letters, the group left the owlrey and headed down to have their tea. As they reached the top of the main staircase they ran directly into Harry, Hermione, Ron, and a few of the other Gryffindor, who'd emerged from the corridor next to theirs. The collision caused a bit of a pile up and both Daphne and Neville ended up on the floor.

Draco automatically went to help Daphne up as Theo and Blaise started yelling at the Gryffindors for not watching where they were going. However, before Draco could offer Daphne his hand, Harry beat him to it. Draco watched in absolute surprise as Harry helped Daphne to her feet and apologised for knocking her down. When Daphne accepted his apology and offered him a small smile, Draco could have sworn he saw his best friend blush before turning away.

"Come on, let's just go and eat," Draco announced, smirking at the fact his best friend may be developing a crush on Daphne.

"But these idiots ran into us," Theo protested. "Shouldn't we throw them down the stairs, or something?"

"We could, but knowing our luck we'd be accused of attempted murder or something," Draco said. "And I don't know about you Theo, but I don't want to lose hundreds of house points just to maim some Gryffindors."

"I guess they're not worth it," Theo agreed as the Slytherins began to descend the stairs behind Draco.

"Cowards," Ron called after the retreating Slytherins.

Stopping partway down the stairs, Draco turned and glared at Ron. "Do you want to come here and say that, Weasley?" Of course Ron didn't move, so Draco just gave him a smirk. "Of course you don't. You Gryffindors are all talk and no action."

Turning back around, Draco led the way into the Great Hall and over to the Slytherin table. The Gryffindors weren't far behind them and they settled into their seats with Ron still shooting daggers over at the Slytherins.

"We have to do something about Weasley," Theo said with a snarl as the redhead continued to watch them. "He really gets on my nerves."

"He gets on everyone's nerves," Blaise said. "I think it must be a Weasley trait. His little sister is exactly the same, and don't get me started on that pompous arsehole who's Head Boy."

"What's he ever done to you?" Draco asked. "Other than being a Weasley, of course."

"Nothing particularly, he's just got a bad attitude," Blaise replied. "He's always talking down to us Slytherins. Just last week, I saw him give two first year detentions for laughing as they headed to their classroom."

"Detention for laughing?" Theo tutted, outraged at the very idea that someone had been punished for being in a good mood.

"He reckoned they were causing a scene, but I think it's just because he's got no sense of humour himself," Blaise said. "The sad bugger lives for school and being Mr Perfect, Head Boy. Prat."

"You can say that again," Draco laughed as the group drifted off into general chit chat, which inevitably included badmouthing Gryffindors.

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

* * *

While the Slytherins were laughing and joking at their table, Ron was sitting glaring at them following their run-in on the stairs. He was still smarting from Draco's remark that he didn't dare get too close when he insulted them, mainly because it was true. Ron wasn't exactly afraid of the blond Slytherin, but he was wary of him. Draco was a Slytherin, and a Malfoy, and Ron was never quite sure what lengths he would stoop to in order to get the upper hand during a confrontation.

"Glaring daggers at the Slytherins isn't achieving anything," Harry remarked, dragging Ron back to what was going on with his friends. "Just ignore them, Ron."

"They just get under my skin," Ron said.

"I know the feeling," Hermione muttered, briefly flicking her gaze over to Ron before refocusing on her dinner.

"Some people just aren't meant to get along," Harry said diplomatically.

"True," Ron agreed. "And Weasleys and Malfoys fall into that category."

"So just let it go and forget about them," Harry urged.

"I will," Ron vowed, grinning at Harry. "Why should I let those buggers steal my attention when we could be talking about quidditch. We've only got one more game left against Slytherin and if we beat them, we've won the cup."

Hermione rolled her eyes as Harry and Ron started talking about quidditch. Paying the pair no attention, she turned her attention to the Professors table. As she'd expected Lupin had been absent from his Friday lessons, and so far he hadn't been seen today. Hermione suspected he wouldn't emerge from his quarters until Monday morning, having taken the entire weekend to rest after his transformation.

As she turned her attention away from the Professors table, Hermione noticed several other students glancing up at the table and then gossiping quietly amongst themselves. Scanning the hall she found that almost everyone seemed to be alive with gossip. As she wondered what they were talking about, Lavender and Parvati entered the Great Hall and took seats nearby.

"Can you believe it?" Lavender asked.

"It's so shocking," Parvati added.

"Shocking, more like dangerous," Lavender corrected.

"What are you two on about?" Ron asked, frowning as the gossiping witches had interrupted his quidditch talk.

"Lupin," Parvati answered. "Haven't you heard? He's a werewolf."

"Don't be so ridiculous," Ron snorted.

"Where did you hear that?" Harry asked.

"Everyone's talking about it," Lavender replied. "We heard it from Padma, who'd heard it from Hannah Abbott. Hannah had heard it from one of the seventh years, who'd heard a couple of people talking about sending owls to their parents. Rumour has it the owlreys been packed all day with people sending letters home."

"I'm certainly going to write to my parents tonight," Parvati said. "I don't want to be taught by a werewolf."

"Neither do I," Lavender added as she also confirmed she would be writing home. "They're horrible dirty creatures and I don't want to be anywhere near one."

"Lupin is not a werewolf," Ron insisted. "That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Isn't it, Harry?"

"It is pretty out there," Harry agreed. "I can't see Dumbledore hiring a werewolf to teach hundreds of innocent students."

"Exactly, it's crazy," Ron said, nodding as Harry backed him up.

"I'm not so sure," Hermione said quietly. While Harry was playing along with Ron, she decided to stir it up a bit.

"You can't honestly believe this, Hermione," Ron tutted. "Lupin isn't a werewolf."

"I think he is," Hermione said. "That homework assignment we did on Thursday described Lupin perfectly. And Thursday was the full moon, the same as all the other days Lupin has been ill. I'd already decided that Lupin was a werewolf, it makes sense that someone else was able to connect the dots while doing the homework."

"And you didn't think to tell anyone?" Lavender demanded in outrage.

"I wanted to talk to him before spreading rumours around," Hermione said, defending herself from Lavender's glare. "I'm fairly confident he's a werewolf, but I could be wrong."

"You're not," Parvati said. "The word is out, and we've been taught by a werewolf for the last few months."

"I still say this is all a mistake," Ron said, refusing to believe what was right in front of him. "Just you wait and see, everything will get sorted and the truth will come out. Lupin isn't a werewolf, I'm sure of it."

"Delude yourself," Lavender said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "You're right in one respect though. The truth will come out, and then we'll find out who's right."

In actual fact, the truth emerged before the weekend was over. On Sunday morning, Dumbledore received the first of several howlers from angry parents demanding to know what he was thinking letting a werewolf teach their children. After a day of howlers, which everyone knew about, Dumbledore was forced to make an announcement over dinner. He admitted that Lupin was in fact a werewolf, although he was adamant that he could be trusted and wasn't a danger to anyone. However, he was forced to remove Lupin from active teaching duty while he dealt with the angry parents.

Dumbledore was confident that by the end of the Easter holidays which were fast approaching, everything would be sorted and Lupin would be reinstated. However, Harry, Hermione and Draco knew differently. They knew that Lupin had taught his last lesson and by the start of the third and final term he would no longer be a Professor at Hogwarts.


	17. Chapter 17

Dumbledore could feel the beginning of a headache forming as he sat in the Great Hall, participating in a joint governors/parents meeting. After rumours about Remus Lupin had started to surface a few weeks earlier he'd done everything in his power to fix things. Even though he hadn't wanted to, he'd removed Lupin from active teaching duty and had spent the few weeks before Easter trying to calm the parents. However, it was now the Easter holidays and as head governor, Lucius Malfoy insisted on a full meeting where the concerned parents could be heard. Dumbledore had little choice but to agree to the meeting, but ten minutes in and he knew it was a disaster. It didn't matter what he said, Lucius had worked the other parents up into a frenzy and they wouldn't settle until they had what they wanted, which was Lupin out of a job.

"I can give you my personal reassurance that your children are safe," Dumbledore said, not quite ready to throw in the towel and throw Lupin to the wolves. Realistically he knew it was coming, but he wasn't going to give up without a fight.

"You mean like they were safe last year?" One parent scoffed. "This school is getting more dangerous by the day if you ask me."

"Here, here," Several more parents agreed.

"I'm sorry, Dumbledore, but we're not budging on this," Lucius said in a solemn voice. "We expect our children to be safe when they're at school, and I just don't feel safe with a werewolf teaching my son."

"I can assure you, Remus's condition is under control," Dumbledore replied. "He takes Wolfsbane potion every full moon, and he's secured well away from the students when his affliction is at its peak."

"Wolfsbane isn't a cure though," Bernard Nott, Theo's father, pointed out. "What if he forgot to take his potion, or what if it went wrong? He still turns into a dangerous creature, and I want him nowhere near my son."

"Is it really worth the risk, Dumbledore?" Lucius questioned. "Despite all your precautions, can you honestly say there's no danger to our children? Even if it's only a slim chance of something going wrong, surely the students of Hogwarts should come first. They should be protected above all else. Or do you think differently?"

"Of course the students are my first priority," Dumbledore insisted, annoyed at Lucius for implying otherwise.

"Then I think your solution is pretty straightforward," Lucius said.

"I really can't say anything to change your minds, can I?" Dumbledore asked, looking around for anyone who might be sympathetic to the cause and finding none.

"Do the right thing," Lucius urged the Headmaster. "Or we'll go to the press and the Ministry and force them to do it for you."

Dumbledore sighed heavily, knowing Lucius would do just as he promised and create a mighty fuss if he didn't give into what the parents were demanding. "You've got your wish," He said quietly. "Remus Lupin will have his contract terminated."

"You're doing the right thing," Lucius said with a satisfied smirk as he got to his feet. "Let's hope next year's Professors are more suitable to the job, shall we?"

Ignoring the blond wizard's dig about his choice of staff, Dumbledore rose to his feet and began to usher the parents out of the school. Finally, he was alone with Lucius and he got to ask how he'd found out about Lupin. It had been baffling Dumbledore for some time how the parents had suddenly gotten wind of the Defence Professors condition.

"People aren't as oblivious as you think," Lucius answered with a smirk. "Did you not think it was going to raise questions having a member of staff who took a few days off each month? It doesn't take much digging to work out Lupin's sick days fell around the full moon. That, combined with a homework project got Draco looking closely at his newest Professor."

"Draco worked it out?" Dumbledore was genuinely shocked that the blond Slytherin had connected the dots and discovered Lupin's little problem.

"My son isn't an idiot, Dumbledore," Lucius snapped, noticing just how shocked the old man appeared to be at the news that Draco had led them to Lupin's secret. "You really shouldn't underestimate him. One day he's going to surprise you with how smart he actually is."

"He already has," Dumbledore muttered as Lucius swept out of the Great Hall and exited the school.

With a sigh, he turned to head up to his office. Even though he'd been expecting it, he now had to go and break the news to Lupin that he was out of a job. And then he had to sort himself a new Defence Professor for the last term of the year. He was mad enough that he had to get rid of a very good teacher, but he was even more infuriated that it had happened in the middle of the year. The least Draco could have done was wait until the end of the year to work out Lupin's secret. Damn Malfoys, they really were a family Dumbledore could do without having to deal with.

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"They can't do this," Sirius Black exploded, slamming his fist into the nearby wall and causing dust to come falling down on his head.

"They can and they have," Remus answered with a sigh.

The pair were in the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade and Remus had just broken the news of his sacking to his friend. Of course they both knew it was coming, but they'd been hoping Dumbledore could have averted it. At least until they'd managed to do what Sirius had broken out of Azkaban to do.

"And what happens now?" Sirius asked, slumping down on the old sofa that stood in the corner of the room.

"I'm going home," Remus replied. "It'll look odd if I hang around after I've been sacked. I'm just sorry I couldn't be of more help to you."

"At least you've made a connection with Harry," Sirius said. "Hopefully he'll now give me a chance when I finally get to meet him."

"I've tried to get him to see you're not a bad person, Sirius," Remus said to his friend. "I've explained what truly happened with Peter and I think he believes me."

"Of course he believes you, it's the truth," Sirius snorted. "Harry won't be stupid, now with who his parents are. I bet he's so clever."

"He is quite bright," Remus agreed with a fond smile. "Although for some reason he tends his hide his intelligence when he's around Ron. I don't know if he's just trying to spare Ron's feelings because he's not as bright."

"He's sounds like a good boy," Sirius said. "I can't wait to meet him. Do you think if I'm pardoned that I can get custody of him?"

"One thing at a time, Sirius," Remus cautioned. "You can't get a pardon without first getting hold of Peter and proving he isn't dead."

"Damn rat," Sirius seethed. "I can't believe I never thought about him slipping away at the time. I was so convinced that I killed him."

"We all were," Remus said with a nod. "How were we to know he was so slippery?"

"After what he did to James and Lily, we should have known he was capable of anything," Sirius grumbled.

"Just don't do anything stupid, Sirius," Remus caution as he prepared to leave. "If you're caught, they'll throw you back into Azkaban without giving you a chance to clear your name."

"I know, but I can't just sit back and do nothing," Sirius argued. "I need to clear my name."

"I know you do, but just be careful," Remus replied. "I don't want to lose you again. For thirteen years, I've had no friends around. I don't want to go back to being alone."

"You won't," Sirius promised. "Don't worry, Remus. I can handle everything."

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

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The news of Lupin's sacking was greeted by enthusiasm by the majority of the students when Hogwarts reconvened for the last term of the year. With everything that had been going on, most students had gone home for Easter while the matter of Lupin had been solved. Of course there was a few students sad to see him go, but the majority of people were just pleased that a potentially dangerous werewolf was no longer teaching them.

"I still say it's a sad result," Ron grumbled over the first feast of the term. "I liked Lupin."

"So did I. But it was irresponsible for Dumbledore not to make his condition public knowledge," Hermione replied.

"But if he had, he never would have gotten the job in the first place," Ron argued. "How's he's supposed to get a job if people discriminate against him because he's a werewolf?"

"I'm sure there's plenty of jobs he can do," Hermione said with a shrug of her shoulders. "He actually was a really good Professor, it just wasn't right that no-one knew of the danger he presented to people. It might have been different if Dumbledore had been upfront with people."

"I doubt it," Ron snorted. "Can you imagine Malfoy's father agreeing to let a werewolf teach his precious brat of a son? Dumbledore would never have gotten the required permission to let Lupin teach."

"You can't know that," Harry said, joining in on the conversation. "Maybe if Dumbledore could have proved Lupin was safe to be around students things would have worked out. We'll never know because Dumbledore tried to be underhand about things."

"I think we should all just agree to disagree," Hermione said, jumping in when Ron opened his mouth to argue with Harry.

"Although we can all agree that Lupin was a good Professor," Harry added, trying to keep Ron on side.

"Yeah, he was," Hermione said, realising what Harry was doing and joining in. "I'm going to miss his lessons."

"Who do you think will take over?" Ron questioned. Dumbledore had announced that Lupin had gone, but he hadn't mentioned any new Professor and there was no-one new at the Professors table.

"Maybe they'll just carry on finding substitutes or putting us in with other classes," Harry suggested.

"I can't see them doing that for a whole term," Hermione said. "Doing it for a couple of days of the month was fine, but they can't do that all day every day for an entire term."

"Maybe Dumbledore himself will teach the class," Ron laughed.

Harry and Ron laughed along with the redhead, not realising that his suggestion would turn out to be the correct one. Little did they realise that when they got rid of Lupin, they would end up with the headmaster teaching them.

"So what are we doing tonight?" Ron asked, changing the subject as they finished off their dessert.

"I'm reading this amazing book and I want to finish it," Hermione said. "I was planning on curling up in a corner somewhere."

"What about you, Harry?" Ron asked. "Do you fancy a game of chess? It feels like it's been ages since we played. I've got some chocolate left from Easter, we can pig out."

"Chess sounds good," Harry agreed. He did feel as though he'd been neglecting Ron lately, so an evening playing chess wasn't a hassle. It was worth it to keep in with the redhead as they never knew when they would need him or his family.

When they headed back to the Gryffindor common room they were joined by Neville, Dean and Seamus. Instead of chess, the five boys decided to play some card games while Hermione curled up nearby with her book. For the rest of the evening, the group binged on Ron's leftover Eater chocolate as they played cards and had a good laugh. When they finally went to bed the mood was good, and everyone was happy to be back at Hogwarts.

Harry's good mood was disturbed less than an hour after climbing into bed when he was awoken by Ron screaming at the top of his voice. Thinking Ron was just having a nightmare, Harry cursed his friend as he sat up and yanked open the curtains that hung around the bed. Ron's screams had woken the others as well and Dean flicked on the lights in the room.

"What's going on?" A tired sounding Neville asked as he stifled a yawn.

"Sirius Black," Ron screamed. He was sitting up in his bed, clutching Scabbers so tight the poor rat looked as though he was going to pop. "He was here. I woke up and found him standing over me with a knife in his hand."

Harry was tempted to laugh off Ron's claims, but when he got out of bed he found the crimson curtains around Ron's bed were slashed. It definitely looked as though they'd been ripped with a sharp blade. Harry was just curious as to why Sirius had tried to attack Ron. Why did Ron matter to him?

"We need to tell McGonagall," Dean said as all the boys examined the torn bed hangings.

"Of course we need to tell someone, I was almost murdered in my bed," Ron declared with a shudder.

"I wonder how he got into Gryffindor Tower," Seamus mused as Neville volunteered to go and get Professor McGonagall. "The Fat Lady wouldn't let him in last time he tried to get in."

"Yeah, but she still won't guard the tower will she," Dean said. "That plonker Sir Cadogan is still out there. Before Easter he almost let a Slytherin into the common room just because he knew the password. I mean, the little twerp was clearly wearing Slytherin colours and Sir Cadogan wasn't bothered. He knew the password, therefore he was going to let him enter."

"How did a Slytherin know our password?" Ron asked, pleased to have something else to focus on other than his near death experience.

Dean shrugged, not really sure as he hadn't seen the entire incident, just enough to know the portrait they had guarding them was useless. "Maybe he just hung around and heard someone say it."

As the group were debating how easy it would be to get into Gryffindor Tower, Neville reappeared with McGonagall at his side. McGonagall took one look at Ron's bed hangings before ushering the five boys down to the common room. She then called for Dumbledore, and Gryffindor Tower was evacuated and all the students were moved down to the Great Hall. Like the previous time, Sirius Black was in the castle, the rest of the school joined the Gryffindors in the Great Hall. With much complaint, the students settled down for another night in sleeping bags while the staff searched the castle and tried to work out just how Sirius had actually made it into Gryffindor Tower.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N - Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, not just for this story but for my other works as well. I greatly appreciate all the wonderful support I receive on this site, and I'm just pleased people seem to enjoy the stories I've worked so hard on. This chapter is just a bit of light relief, before we hit the final few chapters of this story and end off year three. Enjoy!**

* * *

After the debacle with Sirius Black actually gaining entry to Gryffindor Tower, Sir Cadogan was replaced with yet another portrait after admitting to letting Sirius enter the tower because he knew the password. Since the Fat Lady was still refusing to guard the tower until Sirius was caught, the Gryffindors were making do with a miserable, plump wizard who sat in his portrait playing solitaire. He disliked being disturbed, so anytime anyone wanted to enter the common room it was met with a pile of complaints and grumblings.

Of course it all could have been avoided if Sirius Black had been captured, but yet again he'd disappeared from the castle as though he'd never been there. The entire castle was searched and no sign of the convict was found. With Lupin gone, Harry wasn't as sure how Sirius was gaining access to the castle and getting away undetected, but then again he had attended the school in his youth and would know his way around the castle.

After the drama of the first night of the term, things returned to normal. Professor Dumbledore had taken over the teaching of Defence against the Dark Arts, much to the chagrin of the Slytherins. Harry himself wasn't impressed with the move, but he had it easier than Draco and his friends. Dumbledore was rather laid back with the Gryffindors and he was always ready to dish out the house points and heap praise on them.

After a few weeks back at school, Harry's attention turned to the upcoming match against Slytherin. Slytherin had won their second match just before Easter and the entire Gryffindor team knew they would be hard to beat. Oliver still had the team practising at least three times a week, and after one particularly gruelling session, Harry decided to pay a visit to Hermione in the library. He knew his best friend had been heading to the library to do a project for Arithmancy and he was hoping she was still there.

Entering the library, he looked around for Hermione in case she wasn't in their secret room. Spotting his friend sitting at one of the back tables, he paused when he realised she wasn't alone. Sitting beside her was possibly the best looking girl he'd ever seen, Daphne Greengrass. Harry had never really paid Daphne much attention until he'd bumped into her a few weeks before Easter. When he'd helped her to her feet he'd been struck by how pretty she was, and much to his own embarrassment he'd ended up blushing when she thanked him for helping her up. And of course, Draco just had to be there and notice it, something he'd taken great pleasure in ribbing Harry about over the Easter holidays.

Taking a deep breath, Harry strolled over to the table where Hermione and Daphne were sitting and slumped into the seat opposite Hermione. Hermione looked up and smiled at Harry, but he was well and truly distracted when Daphne also looked up and he found himself staring into the bluest eyes he'd ever seen.

"Harry." Hermione snapped her fingers in front of her nephew's face, gaining his attention. "I thought you had quidditch practice," She said when he finally looked at her.

"We've had it," Harry replied. "Wood took pity on us and let us go before we collapsed with exhaustion."

"Is he still being rough on you?" Hermione asked sympathetically. Personally she didn't understand Oliver's obsession with winning the quidditch cup and she thought his gruelling regime boarded on the insane.

"Yep. He's determined to beat Slytherin and win the house cup."

"Good luck with that," Daphne said with a small chuckle. "We're the better team, we're going to win."

Harry opened his mouth to argue, but before he could say anything, Daphne checked with Hermione that they were finished. When Hermione confirmed they'd done enough for the night, Daphne packed up her books and with a polite goodnight she headed off and left the two Gryffindors alone. Once they were alone, they got up and slipped into their secret room so they could talk.

"She's very pretty, isn't she," Hermione remarked as she settled down on the sofa in the small room. She'd noticed the way Harry had stared after Daphne as she left the library.

Harry swung around to face Hermione and from her knowing smile, he knew his noticing of Daphne hadn't gone unnoticed. "I guess so," He said, shrugging and trying to feign indifference.

"It's not a good idea, Harry," Hermione said quietly as Harry sat down beside her.

"What?" Harry frowned, not quite sure what Hermione was talking about.

"Getting attached to Daphne," Hermione answered. "She'll never notice you because of who she thinks you are. She's a Slytherin, and her family are supporters of Father's. She won't get involved with a Gryffindor, let alone you."

"We're thirteen, I'm not looking to get involved with anyone," Harry argued. "Besides, you don't know what she's like. You two seemed to be getting along fairly well, and you're supposedly everything her family are against."

"Looks can be deceiving," Hermione chuckled. "We're working together because we have to. I actually quite like Daphne, but way back when we were partnered together she made her feelings very clear. She's forced to work with me, and if she had her way she wouldn't be associating with a Gryffindor muggleborn. So, yes I think I can say what she's like. She knows where her loyalties lie."

"If only she knew the truth," Harry sighed.

"Well she doesn't, and that won't be changing anytime soon," Hermione said, trying not to sound too harsh but wanting to stop Harry before he got all hopeful. "I'm sorry Harry, but romance is off the cards for you until the truth can emerge."

"And what about you?" Harry teased.

"What about me?"

"Romance isn't off the cards for you, I notice," Harry said.

"What are you on about?" Hermione asked. "There's no romance in my life."

"I've got eyes," Harry laughed. "I've seen the way you and Draco act around each other these days."

"Draco? You think I fancy Draco?"

"I don't think it, I know it. And don't try denying it, Hermione, because it won't work. You fancy him something rotten."

"He's my best friend, and I love him as such," Hermione argued. "Although admittedly he is good looking."

"True love in the making," Harry said with a smirk.

"I said he was good looking, not that I fancy him," Hermione pointed out. "We're just friends, Harry."

"Of course you are," Harry chuckled. "And I'm the saviour of the wizarding world who's going to rid it of the evil Lord Voldemort."

Hermione shook her head at Harry as she changed the subject to their upcoming exams. The change of subject wasn't subtle, but Harry let it slide. To be honest he'd gotten Hermione to admit far more than he thought she would, but he knew better than to press her. If he'd kept going on about Draco she would have snapped and gone stalking off, and then who knew when she would next talk to him. It was easier to just let her move past it and when she was ready they would get back to the fact that she was beginning to develop romantic feelings for their blond best friend.

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

* * *

As he stood with the rest of the team waiting to go out onto the pitch to start the last match of the year, Draco felt his nerves grow. He'd only been slightly nervous when they played Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, but now they were playing Gryffindor his nerves were in overdrive. Not only was there house pride at stake, but there was his personal rivalry with Harry. Draco hadn't begrudged his best friend getting the better of him the previous year, but he didn't want it to become a regular occurrence. He didn't think his ego could stand it if Harry beat him every time they played.

"Don't mess up this time, Malfoy, or you're off the team," Marcus Flint hissed as the team made their way onto the pitch.

With his captain's threat ringing in his ears, Draco took to the sky and lined up with the rest of the Slytherins. As the Gryffindors took their positions opposite, he briefly caught Harry's eye and shared a meaningful look with his friend before he focused on the two captains below them. Once Flint and Wood had shaken hands, they took their positions on the pitch and Madam Hooch blew the whistle to get the game underway.

"You can do this," Draco muttered to himself as he soared into the sky and began his search for the snitch.

Drawing confidence from the two previous games, where he'd been exceptional in both matches, Draco ducked and weaved around the stadium as he searched for the tiny golden snitch that would win Slytherin the game. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Harry flying nearby, but he ignored his best friend. He didn't have time to try and catch a few words with Harry. He had to get the snitch, right now it was the only thing that truly mattered to him.

Unlike Slytherins previous two games which had been over fairly quickly, the match against Gryffindor was far longer and far tighter. Several times Harry and Draco had the snitch in their sights, but every time one of them came near to catching it, it would disappear, leaving them empty handed. The scoring was also pretty neck and neck, with goals being scored regularly at either side. The match was clearly going to be determined by whichever seeker caught the snitch.

As he flew around the stadium, Draco kept encouraging himself as his attention darted around trying to catch the snitch. All of a sudden he spotted Harry soaring towards the Ravenclaw stand and he spotted gold fluttering in front of the stand. With a resigned sigh, he took off after Harry even though he knew he wasn't going to be able to pass him. Over Easter Harry had gotten a new broom, and while it wasn't a Firebolt, it was still a good model and with the head start he had, Draco would be unable to catch him.

Just as Draco was contemplating that he was about to experience his last few minutes as a member of the Slytherin quidditch team, he caught another glimmer of gold out of the corner of her eye. Turning his head to the side, he spotted the snitch hovering just a few metres above his head. Using all his flying skills, he turned around in mid dive and shot up to where the snitch was hovering. The move seemed to have caught the snitch by surprise and much to his delight, Draco grasped the small, golden ball in his hands.

"Slytherin win!" Madam Hooch announced as she blew her whistle. Like always she had a spell on the snitch that alerted her to whoever had caught it, as sometimes there was some close calls and she couldn't always see if the snitch had been caught.

Madam Hooch's announcement caught everyone by surprise, and people started looking around in confusion. Sure enough, Draco was sitting on his broom, the golden snitch visible in his fingers. However, Harry had still been heading full tilt towards the Ravenclaw stand, and he seemed thoroughly bemused by the fact the snitch was caught and he was chasing it. As he pulled his broom to a halt, he glanced around for the golden ball he'd been chasing and swore quietly when he realised what he'd been after was a sweet paper that had gotten caught in the stand.

"It looks like you need to get your seeker some new glasses, Wood," Marcus laughed as the two teams headed back to ground and everyone realised just what Harry had been chasing.

"You did well," Harry said to Draco as their respective captains got themselves into a slanging match. Luckily the rest of their teams were just as interested in arguing so the pair were relatively alone as they stood on the pitch.

"Thanks," Draco replied with a nod. It was hard not to grin at Harry and share how excited he was, but he was good at keeping himself under control. "Tough luck with the sweet paper."

"Damn Ravenclaws, it was sabotage," Harry muttered with a small grin.

Draco chuckled in response, before the pair were interrupted by the Slytherins calling for Draco to join them in a victory lap of the stadium. After all, they hadn't just won the match, they'd won the entire cup. Hopping on his broom, Draco promised Harry they could meet later as he took off into the sky with his teammates.

By the time the Slytherin team had completed their victory lap, only the other Slytherins were still in the stadium. Returning to the ground, the team headed for the changing rooms while the other Slytherins headed down to the dungeons to make sure a party would take place. Sure enough, by the time Draco had showered, changed and returned to the common room, the place was looking and feeling pretty festive. There was food and drink scattered all over the place, the music was thumping and everyone looked to be having fun.

"To Malfoy," Marcus called, raising his glass and making a toast to the star of the match. "We couldn't have done it without him this year."

Even though he wished he had Harry and Hermione at his side, Draco still couldn't help but bask in the glory as his housemates drank to him and began to chant his name. It felt good to be the star player, and he was going to revel in winning the quidditch cup. No doubt Gryffindor would want it back, and would be more determined than ever to win when they faced them next year. But for now, the glory was all with Slytherin, and Draco was going to enjoy the party that lay in front of him.


	19. Chapter 19

"I won't tell you again, Ronald. Shut up," Hermione snapped at the redhead, just as Harry descended the stairs from the boys' dorms and entered the Gryffindor common room.

"No, I will not shut up," Ron snapped back. "I have a right to be concerned."

"What's going on?" Harry asked warily, hoping Hermione's temper hadn't landed her in trouble with Ron. He understood it was hard constantly putting on an act, but sometimes he wished his aunt was more controlled around Ron.

"Ronald is accusing Crookshanks of murder again," Hermione answered.

"I'm not accusing your cat of anything," Ron argued. "I merely said Scabbers was missing again, and there's ginger hairs on my pillow."

"Ginger hairs, I wonder where they could have come from," Hermione retorted, looking pointedly at Ron's red hair which was becoming increasingly longer and wild as the year progressed.

"I know the difference between my hair and cat hair," Ron shot back. "I have cat hairs on my pillow."

"You don't know they belong to Crookshanks though," Hermione replied. "He's rather a picky cat, and he clearly doesn't like you, so why would he sleep on your bed?"

"I can't think of any other ginger cats in Gryffindor Tower," Ron said moodily.

"I'm sure Scabbers will turn up, Ron," Harry said reassuringly. "Have you searched the entire dorm?"

"Yeah, even the shoes," Ron replied with a sigh. "There's no sign of him, Harry, and I'm worried. He hasn't been himself since we were almost killed by Sirius Black. I think he's stressed."

"I'll help you look for him when we get back from Hagrid's," Harry quickly offered, jumping in before Hermione made a remark about Scabbers being stressed.

The trio were actually on their way to have afternoon tea with Hagrid. Since he'd been sacked, Harry and Hermione had been pretending to be sympathetic in order to keep up their act as good little Gryffindors. Luckily they hadn't had to see him much as they'd been rather busy with school, but there was only so long they could avoid him without being suspicious so when Hagrid had invited them down to tea they really couldn't refuse.

"Thanks Harry," Ron said with a smile. "At least someone cares about Scabbers," He added as he glared at Hermione.

"I might care if you didn't always blame my cat for his disappearances," Hermione replied as she turned on her heel and led the way out of the common room.

The boys followed after Hermione, and by the time they reached Hagrid's hut, Ron had dropped the subject of Scabbers. Hermione wasn't sure if Harry had quietly spoken to Ron before they caught her up, or if Ron had just decided not to push her any further, but either way she was grateful that the subject was closed. She knew she was being rather hard on Ron this year, but for some reason he was winding her up more than usual, especially where Crookshanks was concerned. Ron had taken against her cat the moment he'd sat eyes on him, and Hermione was annoyed that he kept jumping to conclusions. Then again, Ron was good at jumping to conclusions and judging people he didn't know.

As the three teenagers entered Hagrid's hut, Hermione shared an unimpressed look with Harry when they spotted Hagrid had been baking. They'd sampled his rock cakes before, and they were like actual rocks. They were so hard Ron had nearly cracked a tooth on one the previous year.

"Sit down," Hagrid urged. "Help yourselves to cakes."

"Thanks," Ron said, scooping one of the rock cakes up having forgotten about the previous year. However, the memories came flooding back in painful technicolour when he bit down on the cake and nearly broke his tooth again.

"How have you been, Hagrid?" Harry asked as Ron subtly slid the rock cake under the table for Fang to eat.

"Okay, I guess," Hagrid answered with a sigh. Placing a large teapot on the table he gathered some cups and joined the three Gryffindors. "I've still got Fang, and my job as a groundskeeper."

"It's so unfair you were sacked," Ron said. "Bloody Malfoy deserved everything he got."

"You can't say that, Ron," Hagrid scolded. "He was injured in my class, and that made it my fault. It doesn't matter that he's an evil little brat, he was still a student in my care."

"I still think it was unfair," Ron insisted. "They didn't have to sack you. I mean, they got rid of Buckbeak. Wasn't that enough for them?"

"Buckbeak, how I miss him," Hagrid said with a wistful sigh.

"How is Buckbeak?" Hermione asked. "Is he liking the animal sanctuary?"

"According to the letters Dumbledore showed me," Hagrid replied, although he didn't exactly sound convinced his precious Hippogriff was as well cared for as he would have liked.

"I'm sure he's fine," Harry said with a bright smile. "I bet he's loving making friends with the other Hippogriffs."

"I suppose so," Hagrid muttered with a shrug. "Enough about me, how are you three doing?"

"Can't complain," Harry replied. "It sucks losing the quidditch cup, but there's always next year."

"I'm doing great," Hermione said. "Just preparing for the end of year exams."

"Which are still weeks away," Ron pointed out. "There is such a thing as too much revision."

"It's not something you're likely to know about, is it?" Hermione said with a snort. "You'll save all your revision for the last minute."

"If it's freshly revised, I'll remember it," Ron retorted with a smug smile.

"You won't if you have too much crammed into your head," Hermione shot back.

"I'll be fine," Ron insisted. "Don't worry about me, Hermione. I know exactly what I'm doing."

"If you say so," Hermione replied, rolling her eyes. She suspected Ron would be begging her to help him come exam time.

"Apart from exams, are you okay Ron?" Hagrid questioned.

"If you call almost being murdered in your bed, okay, I guess I am," Ron replied.

Since Ron hadn't really seen Hagrid to talk to since the incident with Sirius Black, he launched into the full story of how he woke up to find him hovering over his bed with a knife in his hands. Hermione and Harry were quite amused by Ron's dramatics, but they were both wondering just what Sirius Black had been up to. According to Lupin he wasn't a bad person, but hovering over a thirteen year olds bed with a knife hardly pointed towards him being completely sane. And of course they were still puzzling over Ron's part in events. Why was Sirius so interested in him?

Slowly the conversation drifted away from Sirius Black, and Harry and Hermione put their curiosity to one side. By the time they were ready to leave, the pair had totally forgotten about Sirius and what he wanted with Ron.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Hagrid said as the trio got up to leave. "I have something for you, Ron."

Hagrid opened up one of the pots on his shelf, and when he plunged his hand inside he came back out with Scabbers. As he handed the rat back to Ron, Hagrid explained that he'd found Scabbers nibbling at his giant pumpkins.

"Looks like you were wrong again," Hermione gloated as the trio said goodbye and exited Hagrid's hut. "Crookshanks is innocent, again."

"I'm not so sure about that," Ron muttered as he got his eye on a figure sitting underneath a nearby tree with Hermione's cat on his lap. "Have you seen your cat?"

Harry and Hermione looked to where Ron was gesturing and spotted Draco. The blond was sitting doing some revision, with Crookshanks on his lap. Hermione suspected that Crookshanks had spotted Draco and had curled up with him, unaware that in school they weren't supposed to be friends.

"I'm sure Malfoy doesn't even realise whose cat he's petting," Hermione replied with a shrug. "And I doubt Crookshanks knows who Malfoy is."

"I say your cat's got bad judgement," Ron grumbled. Just as he was about to suggest they go and see what was going on, Scabbers started to wriggle in his hands and actually bit him. "Ow," He cried as he instinctively let his rat go. "Scabbers!"

Forgetting about Draco and Crookshanks, Ron took off after Scabbers. Exchanging a sigh, Harry and Hermione followed Ron as he went chasing his rat. The commotion had also attracted Draco's attention and he looked up to find the three Gryffindors chasing Ron's rat. Shaking his head in amusement, he settled back to watch the fun.

What Draco didn't expect was for a large black dog to suddenly appear out of nowhere just as Ron grabbed his rat. He then watched with wide eyes as the dog lunged at Ron, grabbing him by the ankle and dragging him towards a large tree that sat alone in the grounds of Hogwarts. Harry and Hermione seemed just as shocked as Draco and they also watched in shock as the dog dragged Ron to a hole at the bottom of the tree and disappeared down it.

"What the hell?" Draco cried as he jumped up and ran over to where Harry and Hermione were standing in shock. "What just happened?"

"It appeared from nowhere," Harry said, clearly still in shock. "What do we do?"

"We go after them," Hermione decided. "Draco, go and get Severus and tell him what's happening."

"Should you really go after that monster?" Draco asked. "It looked big and really rather fierce."

"This is the same dog that's been hanging around all year," Hermione said. "We need to find out what's going on."

"Okay, but be careful," Draco said, taking hold of Hermione's hand and giving it a brief squeeze. "Promise me, Hermione."

"I promise," Hermione vowed, giving Draco a small smile.

"I'll be careful as well," Harry added with a mischievous smirk. "Not that anyone was bothered about me."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Draco said with a shrug.

"We will," Harry said. "Now go and get Dad. We might need him."

"Good luck," Draco called as he turned and sprinted back up towards the castle.

With Draco heading off to get Severus, Hermione and Harry made their way towards the tree where the dog had taken Ron. However, before they got too close to the tree it suddenly moved and its branches flew towards where the pair were standing. Jumping out of the way, Harry and Hermione ended up on the ground as they crawled away from the tree.

"What the hell is that thing?" Harry gasped.

"I have no idea," Hermione replied, staring up at the tree as it threateningly waved its branches around.

"How do we get past it?" Harry asked as the pair carefully got to their feet.

Hermione opened her mouth to say she hadn't got any idea, when she suddenly spotted Crookshanks racing past her towards the tree. Lunging after her cat, she was held back by Harry.

"Let me go," She screamed. "He's going to be killed."

"I don't think so, Hermione," Harry replied. "Look."

Hermione stopped struggling and watched as Crookshanks darted through the branches unharmed. When he reached the tree, he hit the base of its trunk with his paw and the branches stopped moving.

"Come on," Harry cried, dragging Hermione after him as he darted towards the tree. "Thanks, Crooks," He called as he dove into the hole the dog had carried Ron into.

"You're a good cat," Hermione added as she followed Harry.

The hole led Harry and Hermione down into some sort of underground cavern. As they picked themselves up and dusted themselves off they looked around and spotted a tunnel leading away from the school. Since it was the only way to go, the pair pulled out their wands and began to head down the tunnel.

"Where do you think we're going?" Harry asked after they'd been walking at least five minutes."

"I don't know," Hermione replied.

Another five minutes later they at least knew they were heading to a building of some sort as their dirt tunnel opened up into the basement of a wooden structure. As they cautiously climbed the stairs from the basement, Hermione thought she knew where they were. Peering out of one of the windows they came across on the ground floor, her suspicions were confirmed. They were in the Shrieking Shack.

"None of my books mentioned it was connected to Hogwarts," Hermione muttered when she told Harry where they were.

"Maybe the books don't know that little fact," Harry replied as they finished checking the ground floor. "There's no-one here, let's go upstairs."

Lapsing into silence the pair climbed the rickety stairs to the top floor. They'd no sooner reached the top of the stairs than they spotted Ron in one of the bedrooms. He was lying on a single bed, clutching at his leg. Moving as quietly as they could, the pair raced towards the bedroom where Ron was lying.

"No, don't," He cried when he spotted his two friends entering the bedroom. "It's a trap. He's an animagus."

Harry and Hermione barely had time to register Ron's words before the door slammed shut behind them. Whirling round, they came face to face with a grinning Sirius Black.


	20. Chapter 20

As Harry and Hermione took in the sight of Sirius, everything began to fall into place for the pair. The dog they'd been seeing around school was Sirius, and it also explained how he'd escaped from Azkaban. Chances were the Dementors hadn't been looking for a dog escaping the prison. It also went some way to explaining how he was moving around Hogwarts without being spotted, although how a giant dog hadn't been seen wandering around the castle was anyone's guess.

"Harry," Sirius greeted, his eyes roving over his godson. "We finally get to meet."

"You didn't have to kidnap my friend to achieve that," Harry retorted.

"That's not why I took him," Sirius answered, waving a dismissive hand in the air. "Finally meeting you is just a bonus."

"So why did you snatch Ron then?" Hermione demanded as she tried to work out if Sirius was as mad as he looked or if the last few months on the run had just got him looking a bit worse for wear.

"To kill the traitor," Sirius hissed.

"Kill!" Ron squeaked from the bed. "You can't kill me, and I'm not a traitor."

"Not you," Sirius tutted. Striding towards the bed he yanked Scabbers from a whimpering Ron's hands. "This traitor."

"Scabbers?" Harry questioned, looking at Sirius as though he'd lost the plot. "You think a pet rat is a traitor?"

"He's no rat," Sirius said as he shook the rat in his hands, causing it to squeak alarmingly.

"He is," Ron cried. "Give me him back, he's mine."

"I'll show you who he really is," Sirius announced as he flung Scabbers to the floor.

While the rat squeaked and ran under a table, Sirius pulled Harry's wand from his hand and pointed it at the rat. With a flash of white light, Scabbers began to grow and in his place was a small, round wizard whose nose was twitching like a rat.

"Bloody hell," Ron gasped.

"Harry, meet Peter Pettigrew," Sirius said with a snarl. "The man who betrayed your parents."

"No, no, I didn't," Peter squeaked as he backed away from Sirius.

"Stupefy!" Sirius cried, freezing Peter where he crouched. A few extra spells had the man wrapped in rope and settled in the corner of the room. "I'm guessing you've got a few questions," He said as he turned to Harry.

"You could say that," Harry muttered, staring at the man Sirius was supposed to have killed all those years ago. "Isn't he supposed to be dead?"

"I thought so," Sirius answered. "I genuinely thought I'd killed him when we fought over your parents. Turns out he's even slyer than I thought, and he got away by turning into his animagus form. It had never even occurred to me that he would do such a thing."

"If you thought he was dead, how have you found him?" Hermione asked.

"I saw him in the paper over the summer," Sirius answered as he turned to Ron. "I saw him with your family in Egypt. I knew it was him, because I'd seen his animagus shape hundreds of times over the years, but also because of his missing toe."

"All they found of Pettigrew was his finger," Ron whispered, remembering the conversation he'd heard his parents having upon their return from Egypt. "They said you'd torn him to pieces, and all that was left was his finger."

"I would have done if he hadn't fooled me," Sirius admitted. "I thought I had been that brutal, and I never once regretted it."

"Why didn't you just go to the authorities when you found out the truth?" Hermione asked. Even though Sirius's story was making sense, she still didn't trust him.

"I'm a convicted killer, they wouldn't have listened to me," Sirius said with a bitter laugh. "My only choice was to escape myself and prove my innocence. Plus, I wanted to protect Harry. I hated the thought that Peter was near him after what he'd done to poor James and Lily."

"I still don't get why you kidnapped me," Ron grumbled. "And I think you've broken my leg as well."

"Sorry about that," Sirius said with a sheepish shrug. "I was aiming for Peter."

"I have another question," Harry said. "Why are you and Peter both animagi?"

"And you're not on the official register either," Hermione added. "I had a look at the official register when we learnt about them in McGonagall's class, and there's only a small handful of them in the world."

"We're unregistered, as was James," Sirius answered. "You know about Remus's condition. Well, that was why we became animagi. At the full moon we all used to transform and we kept Remus company in his wolf state."

"A rat kept a wolf company?" Hermione questioned with a frown. "And you're a pretty big dog as well."

"Peter always was the hanger on," Sirius replied with a shrug. "A rat was the best he could manage. Remus was the wolf, I was the dog and James was the stag. Peter just clung onto one of us for the ride. To be honest, he was useless and we should have cut him loose."

"Why didn't you?" Hermione asked.

"Because sometimes it's nice to have someone around who does your bidding without question and worships you," Sirius answered. "Peter was that person in our group. Little did we know he was going to betray James and Lily and ruin all our lives."

"Now we know the truth, can we go back to the castle please?" Ron asked. "My leg really hurts."

"I'm so sorry, I should have tried to fix it," Sirius said, rushing over to Ron. Just as he raised Harry's wand to try and mend the broken leg, the door to the bedroom crashed open and Severus stood in the doorway with his own wand pointed as Sirius.

"Black, I was hoping I would be the one to catch you," Severus said as he slowly entered the room. "Lower your wand and step away from the boy."

"Are you going to make me?" Sirius scoffed.

"It'll be my pleasure," Severus replied as he shot a stunning spell at Sirius.

Sirius flew backwards, and Harry's wand went flying out of his hand as his head slammed against the wall. With Ron watching everything with wide eyes, Harry rushed to Sirius's side. Pocketing his wand, he tried to make it look as though he was concerned with his health. Hermione meanwhile rushed over to Ron, checking he was okay and keeping him distracted as Severus made his way over to Pettigrew.

"When we get outside, transform and run," Severus hissed to the wizard as he hauled him to his feet and magically loosened his binds enough so he could escape when the time came. He'd actually been outside the room for several minutes, and knew enough to know that both Pettigrew and Black were animagi.

"Sir, we need to get Ron back to the castle, he's hurt," Hermione said.

"Miss Granger, you take this man here," Severus said. "From what I remember of him, you don't need to worry about him. He's pretty useless. Mr Potter, you help Mr Weasley, and I'll take the prisoner."

"But Sirius is innocent," Ron protested.

"It is not our place to decide innocence, Mr Weasley," Severus snapped. "If Sirius Black is innocent, the Ministry will decide it. My duty is to get him and you three students back up the school, where we will then discuss the fact you've left school premises without permission."

"I was kidnapped, I didn't leave willingly," Ron argued.

"We can discuss this back at the castle," Severus muttered as he restrained Sirius.

Severus then made Ron as comfortable as he could, before creating a makeshift stretcher with a lightweight charm attached. With Ron loaded onto the stretcher, and Harry in charge of levitating him back to the school, Severus woke Sirius up and hauled him to his feet.

"You're going to regret this, Snape," Sirius hissed as the Potions Professor pressed his wand into the small of his back. "I'm going to be pardoned, and I'll make your regret treating me this way."

"I'm merely doing my duty as an honourable member of staff," Severus replied. "Anyone else would be doing the same thing. Apart from your friend, Remus. He didn't stop you, did he? He was helping you get into the castle."

"I don't know what you mean," Sirius replied, although his smirk told another story.

Severus merely shook his head in response, and urging the other on, they began the long trek back to school grounds. Hermione went first, holding a scared Pettigrew at wand point. Harry then followed, levitating a moaning Ron, who was still in a fair bit of pain. Lastly, Severus and Sirius brought up the rear as they continued to snipe at one another.

After what seemed like an eternity, the group emerged back in the school's grounds. Quickly getting away from the tree, which was standing as still as ever and didn't even look like it moved, the group paused to gather their breath. After double checking that Sirius couldn't escape, Severus turned his attention to Ron. Hermione also focused her attention on Ron, checking he was alright.

"Harry," Sirius called, beckoning his godson over to him.

Harry double checked Ron was doing okay before he headed over to where Sirius was standing. He just hoped the wizard wouldn't ask him to help his escape as he wouldn't be able to do it. Luckily, escaping didn't seem to be on Sirius's mind as they also had Pettigrew tied up and he would be the proof that he wasn't a killer.

"Once all this is sorted, how would you like to come and live with me?" Sirius asked.

"What?" Harry's mouth dropped open in genuine shock and he hoped his father had things under control.

"I don't know if you know or not, but I'm your godfather," Sirius said. "There's nothing I'd like more than for you to come and live with me once I'm a free man. I know it's what your Mum and Dad would have wanted. They wouldn't have wanted you living with Lily's relatives."

"Wow, I don't know what to say," Harry said.

"Say yes," Sirius urged.

"Yes," Harry replied, knowing it was what was expected of him. However, he knew it would never happen. Even if his father didn't have an immediate plan in place, he wouldn't let him go off and live with a complete stranger.

"Come on, let's get going," Severus suddenly called as he made his way back over to where Sirius and Harry were standing talking. "We need to get Mr Weasley to the hospital wing."

"Professor Snape," Hermione called in a panic. "Pettigrew's gone."

Sirius, Severus and Harry all whirled around to where the man had been sitting crying on the floor only to find he was gone. His clothes and the rope that had been binding him were in a heap on the ground, but there was no sign of the man himself.

"Damn it," Sirius cried. "This is your fault, Snape. You let his escape."

"I did no such thing," Severus replied as he grasped hold of Sirius tightly. "You restrained him, not me. Obviously you didn't do a very good job."

"But I need him," Sirius cried in exasperation. "Without him, I can't prove I'm innocent."

"What a shame," Severus drawled. "I guess you're just going to have to take your chances with the Dementors, Black."

"Bastard," Sirius shouted as he began to struggle in Severus's grasp.

Calmly, Severus knocked Sirius out and ordering Hermione and Harry to deal with Ron they began to make their way up to the castle. The group made their way to the hospital wing, where Severus made Madam Pomfrey send for Dumbledore before he would let her deal with Ron. Once he was satisfied the headmaster was on his way, he let her look at the teenager with the broken leg.

By the time Dumbledore arrived at the hospital wing, Sirius was awake and sitting cursing loudly on one of the hospital beds. Severus had restrained him and he couldn't move more than a few inches away from the bed. Dumbledore took one look at the sight he was faced with, before jumping into action. After checking Ron was okay, he settled down next to Sirius and listened to his story. Once he was finished, he turned to the three teenagers to get their version of events. Because of the act they were putting on, Harry and Hermione were forced to agree with Sirius about what had occurred that evening.

"Severus?" Dumbledore turned to the Potions master. "How much of this can you confirm?"

"I can confirm there was another man in the shack when I got there," Severus said. "However, if it was Pettigrew or not, I can't say. I can vaguely remember him from school, and I had very little contact with him before his death. It could have been him I suppose, but it might not have been."

"Liar," Sirius hissed. "You know it was him."

"I wouldn't like to say either way," Severus answered. "As I said, there was another man with us and I was bringing both him and Black up to the castle to be dealt with. As for what happened earlier, I have no idea. I arrived just in time to find Black hovering menacingly over Weasley."

"I was trying to help fix his leg," Sirius snarled.

"I didn't know what was going on," Severus shrugged.

"What happens now?" Harry asked. "Will Sirius be freed?"

"That's not my decision to make," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "But I'm afraid the chances aren't good, Sirius."

"I know," Sirius said with a sigh. "Our proof has vanished."

"I'll do what I can, but I can't promise anything," Dumbledore said. "But I want you to know, I believe you, Sirius. I believe you're an innocent man.

"Thank you," Sirius said, nodding at Dumbledore before turning to Harry. "Sorry Harry, looks like our plans are off for the moment. But I promise, I will prove my innocence and you'll have the family you deserve."

Severus ground his teeth as he watched Sirius Black fawn over his son, and he bit back the urge to hex the other wizard into oblivion. Luckily, he didn't have to watch the interaction for long as Dumbledore loosened Sirius's restraints and headed off to find somewhere to detain him while he got in touch with the Ministry.

"I think you two should remain here tonight," Severus said to Harry and Hermione. "You've had an adventure, and it would be better if you stayed here to be checked out."

"In that case, hop on a bed each and Severus, you can leave me with my patients," Madam Pomfrey snapped, looking thoroughly unimpressed with the Potions Professors decision.

Knowing better than to argue with the strict medi-witch, Severus gave Hermione and Harry a secretive smile before exiting the hospital wing. With his sister and son safe and settled in the hospital wing, he could concentrate on Sirius Black and making sure he got sent back to Azkaban. He didn't like the fact Dumbledore had believed Black, and he wanted to ensure the old man didn't do anything foolish like try to help him get a pardon. Severus was determined that Black was going back to Azkaban, and he would do whatever it took to ensure that it happened.


	21. Chapter 21

After leaving Harry and Hermione in the safety of the hospital wing, Severus headed to Dumbledore's office to find out what was going on with Sirius. When he entered the room, Dumbledore was speaking to the Minister of Magic via the floo connection and Minerva McGonagall was pacing the floor.

"How are my students?" McGonagall asked when she spotted the Potions Professor. "I'm planning on going to see them, but I thought it would be better to go with news about Sirius Black."

"Weasley's got a broken leg, but the other two are fine," Severus answered. "I made them stay in the hospital wing just in case they're suffering from delayed shock or anything."

McGonagall nodded understandingly. "Thank you Severus. I dread to think what would have happened if you hadn't been there to save the day."

"Quite," Dumbledore agreed as he stepped back from the fire and joined in the conversation. "Cornelius will be here shortly with a couple of Aurors. But before he arrives, I would like to know how you found Mr Potter and his friends, Severus."

"Draco came to me and told me he'd seen Potter and Granger disappearing underneath the Whomping Willow," Severus answered. "I assumed they were sneaking out of the school grounds for some reason and I went to bring them back. The last thing I expected to find with Sirius Black."

"Speaking of which, where is Black?" McGonagall asked. "I'm assuming he's locked away somewhere secure."

"I've secured him in one of the empty classrooms on the ground floor," Dumbledore answered. "Although I don't think we really have to worry about him. Given what happened this evening, I think it's safe to say he was innocent all along."

"If we believe what he told us," Severus added as Dumbledore filled McGonagall in on what Sirius was claiming. Of course he'd heard enough to know Black was telling the truth, but he wasn't going to speak up for the man. "Don't forget we have no proof of anything he said. Conveniently the wizard he was claiming to be Peter Pettigrew escaped. Without him, we only have Black's word that he was in fact his old friend."

"I have to say I'm with Severus on this one," McGonagall said cautiously. "If Severus can't identify the wizard for certain, who's to say it really was Peter Pettigrew. This could all be an elaborate scheme cooked up by Black."

"It's not, I'm certain of it," Dumbledore insisted. "I spoke to Sirius myself, and I believed him. Peter Pettigrew is alive, and he was the one to betray the Potters."

"Well, it's not really for us to decide if he's telling the truth or not, is it?" McGonagall said, just as the fire lit up in the corner of the room and Cornelius Fudge emerged with two Aurors behind him.

"Have you called the Dementors down to guard Black?" Fudge asked without preamble.

"I don't believe it's necessary, Cornelius," Dumbledore said. "I believe Sirius is innocent."

"Do you have proof of his innocence?" Fudge questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Unfortunately, the evidence got away," Dumbledore admitted with a sigh. "But I'm sure Sirius will tell you everything."

"Without evidence, I can't promise anything," Fudge warned Dumbledore. "I'll listen to Black, but unless he can prove whatever claims he's making he'll be sent back to Azkaban. He'll then face a hearing regarding his escape, and will likely have his sentence prolonged."

"I will fight for his freedom," Dumbledore told the Minister. "I believe he is innocent, and I will not let him rot in Azkaban for the rest of his life."

"That's your prerogative," Fudge said, looking distinctly unimpressed with Dumbledore's stance. "But right now, we're here to collect our prisoner. Where is he?"

"He's downstairs," Dumbledore said with a resigned sigh. It looked like he wasn't going to be able to stop Sirius being rearrested as he'd hoped.

Dumbledore led the way down to the ground floor, and Severus had to wonder why the headmaster had brought Black all the way downstairs before heading to his office. It would have made much more sense if he'd just taken Black up to his office and kept him restrained in there.

"Here we are," Dumbledore announced when they reached a door that was locked with a padlock. Dumbledore quickly unlocked the padlock and stood back as Fudge and the Aurors swept into the room.

"Damn it!" Fudge cried, entering the room and finding it empty. "He's gone."

Severus, Dumbledore and McGonagall rushed into the classroom at Fudge's shout and stopped in bewilderment at the empty classroom. The classroom was a single room with no doors other than the one Dumbledore had locked. Since the classroom wasn't currently used, the furniture was stacked up against the wall, and all the windows had bars on them. All except one small window high up on the wall that was open a crack. Fudge and the Aurors instantly discounted the window as being the way Black had escaped as it was too small for a fully grown man, however Severus suspected a dog could have squeezed itself out of the window.

"I don't believe this," Fudge grumbled. "Are you sure he was secure, Albus?"

"You saw the lock I had on the door," Dumbledore responded. "How Sirius escaped is a mystery to me. But then again, it seems escaping is what he does best. After all, he did escape from Azkaban, and you're still clueless about how he managed that."

Fudge turned red at the reminder that Sirius had already escaped from what was supposed to be the most secure wizarding prison in Europe as he turned to the two Aurors and ordered them to get a search going. As the Aurors disappeared and Dumbledore offered Fudge the use of his office as the search was conducted, Severus could have sworn he spotted a smug smile on the headmaster's face. However, it was gone almost as quickly as it had appeared and Severus was left with the feeling that Dumbledore had planned things perfectly to enable Sirius to escape.

"I'm going to go and check on my students," McGonagall announced as she turned and headed up to the hospital wing.

Severus watched everyone disappear up the stairs, before he turned and stalked back down into the dungeons. He wasn't at all happy that Black wasn't back in Azkaban where he belonged. Since he was now on the run again, he hoped he had the decency not to bother Harry, but Severus couldn't help but be worried about his son's safety. The last thing he wanted was for Sirius Black to try and snatch his son.

When he entered his office, Severus was momentarily confused when he found Draco sitting waiting for him, but when the blond boy jumped up he remembered that he'd told him to wait in his office until he returned. Given how long he'd been gone, Draco was likely worried to death about what had happened to Harry and Hermione.

"Harry and Hermione are both perfectly okay," Severus reassured Draco as he urged his godson to sit back down so he could tell him the entire story.

"Holy crap," Draco gasped when Severus finished his tale. "So you think Dumbledore knew Black was an animagus and helped him escape."

"I do," Severus replied with a nod. "I know he put on a show of fighting for Black's freedom, but he had to have known he was fighting a losing battle. Without Pettigrew, there was no proof of Black's innocence. Even Dumbledore couldn't have swung him a pardon."

"So he helped him escape," Draco said with an unimpressed tut. "What will this mean for Harry? Will Black continue to hassle him?"

"He better not," Severus muttered menacingly. "But just in case, we're going to have to be more vigilant. I'll see if I can knock up some sort of protection spell we can place on Harry over the summer."

"So where do you think Black is?" Draco asked. "Do you think he's still hanging around school?"

"I doubt it," Severus replied. "My guess is he was here to try and grab Pettigrew. Now that's failed, there's no reason for him to hang around. If he's smart, he would get as far away from Hogwarts as he could."

"Let's hope he goes and never returns," Draco said.

Severus nodded in agreement with his godson. There was nothing he would love more than for Sirius Black to disappear and never return, but unfortunately he doubted things would be that straight forward.

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

* * *

A week after the incident with Sirius, things were back to normal at Hogwarts. The Dementors had left the school and returned to Azkaban. Sirius was still a wanted man, but the search had now moved away from Hogwarts with rumour suggesting the Ministry would be contacting foreign Ministries to help track him down. As for what had happened with Harry, Ron and Hermione, Dumbledore had urged them to keep quiet about what had happened. They just said that Ron had fallen down and broken his leg and Hermione and Harry had spent the night with him in the hospital wing as Madam Pomfrey fixed him up.

"Life seems much quieter now, doesn't it?" Ron questioned over breakfast. "There's nothing to look forward to."

"Of course there is," Hermione tutted. "Exams start this week."

"Don't remind me," Ron groaned. "I've still got a ton of revision to do, and I don't know how I'll get it all done. I don't suppose you'll help, will you, Hermione?"

Hermione couldn't help but chuckle at Ron's request. Even though he'd denied needing her help a few weeks earlier as predicted, when the time came to take his exams he did in fact need her expertise.

"I'll help," Hermione said, giving Ron a genuine smile. Now Ron was no longer moaning about Crookshanks, she was finding it easier to keep up the act of being his friend.

"Feel free to help me as well," Harry added. Unlike Ron he had done some revising, and he didn't actually need much help, but he wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to receive help from someone smarter than him.

"I'll help you both," Hermione promised. "How about after lessons we go and sit down by the Black Lake and start."

"Yeah, that sounds like a plan," Ron said with a nod of his head. At least they would be getting some fresh air while they studied, which in his opinion was better than going to the musty old library which was where Hermione usually preferred to do her studying.

While Hermione was busy checking with Ron what subjects he needed help with the post owls began to arrive. Harry, Hermione and Ron didn't pay them much attention until a tiny little owl crash landed directly into Harry's empty bowl.

"Poor thing," Hermione cooed as she gently lifted the owl out of the bowl. "Hey Harry, the letter's for you."

Hermione untied the letter and handed it to Harry, while she fed the tiny owl a few scraps of toast. When the owl had finished eating, it didn't take off like the rest of the owls, it just sat on the table as though it was awaiting a response to the letter it had just delivered.

"Who's the letter from?" Ron asked as Harry scanned the letter.

"Sirius," Harry whispered, lowering his voice so only his two friends could hear him. "He's just letting me know he's okay. He said he'll try and write when he can, and if I ever need him to send word and he'll be right back. He also mentions that he sent the Firebolt, and he doesn't blame me for giving it away as he realises how stupid it was to send it to me without a name. And he says the little owl is for Ron, to make up for losing Scabbers."

"Wow, he's giving me an owl," Ron gasped as he lifted the little bird up into his hands.

"It would seem so," Harry said. "What are you going to call it?"

"I don't know," Ron replied. "I'll think about it. But for now little owl, let's go and take you to the owlrey so you can get settled in."

When Ron got up to leave with his bird, Harry and Hermione went with him. The pair dropped back slightly as they went so they could talk while Ron was fussing over his new bird.

"At least now we can tell Severus he doesn't have to worry about Sirius trying to snatch you," Hermione whispered to her nephew. In the week since the incident, Severus had clearly been worried about the fact that Sirius had wanted Harry to go and live with him if he'd been pardoned. "It doesn't sound like he plans on coming back anytime soon."

"Good," Harry muttered. "I don't mind sending the odd letter to him, pretending that I wished he was here, but I wouldn't like to think I had to cope with him being around all the time."

"Luckily that's not an issue," Hermione replied with a bright smile. "We've seen the last of Sirius Black. Now we just need Father to regain his strength and things can really start changing around here."

Grinning at the prospect of what was to come once Voldemort was back to full strength, Harry and Hermione caught up with Ron and the trio entered the owlrey to settle Ron's new bird into its new home. Once they'd done that, they headed off for lessons as they started to prepare for the end of year exams. Very soon, another exciting year at Hogwarts would be coming to an end.


	22. Chapter 22

The end of the school year arrived amidst bright sunshine. The last few weeks of school had been constantly bright and sunny, and everyone was hoping it meant a warm summer was on its way. To add to Hermione's bright mood was the fact she'd aced all her exams and as usual she'd finished up as the top student in their year. Draco was second best by only a few points, but Hermione still like to tease her best friend with the fact her results were marginally better than his.

It wasn't until they were settled on the train, heading home for another summer break, that Hermione let herself think about her parents. If everything had gone to plan they should be home and nearly ready to do the ritual that could potentially restore her father to full health. Although even if they had everything for the ritual, it didn't mean it was going to work and Hermione could end up losing her father completely.

"Cheer up, Hermione," Ron called, dragging Hermione out of her thoughts. "We're going home for the summer, you should be happy. Honestly, you're the only person I've ever met who gets depressed when we leave school."

"I like school," Hermione replied with a shrug.

"But are you not looking forward to going home for the summer?" Ron pressed. Going home had been all he'd thought about for the last week, and he couldn't wait to get off the train and begin his holidays properly.

"Of course I am," Hermione answered. "I've really missed my parents, and I can't wait to see them."

"Then why don't you look happy?" Ron questioned.

"I was just thinking," Hermione said as she stroked Crookshanks, who was asleep on her lap.

"What about?" Ron asked.

"Nothing important," Hermione answered with another shrug of her shoulder. "Just thinking about the last year, and wondering what next year will bring."

"Hopefully a quieter year," Ron said. "I'm pleased we got to the bottom of the whole Sirius affair, but it was rather scary having an escaped convict stalking around the castle."

"It did get quite tense at times," Harry agreed. "Luckily we've got a relaxing summer ahead of us."

"Yeah, and maybe this year you two could come and visit," Ron suggested hopefully. The previous year neither Harry nor Hermione could visit because his family had spent the majority of their holidays in Egypt, and the year before Harry had been busy the few times Ron had asked him about visiting.

"Maybe," Harry replied, giving Ron a smile. He still wasn't sure about going to visit Ron at home, but he knew the day was coming when he wouldn't be able to get out of visiting the Weasleys. If he didn't go to visit soon, they might start asking questions and the last thing they wanted was for Dumbledore to start looking into his home life.

"It'll be great, you'll see," Ron enthused as he started talking about all the things they could do if Harry and Hermione visited over the summer holidays.

By the time the train pulled into the station in London, Ron had exhausted himself talking about the holidays. Instead, he was sitting quietly reading one of his comics and sharing a bag of sweets with Harry, who was reading a quidditch magazine. Normally, Hermione would have been reading as well, but her thoughts had returned to her father and she was sitting staring out of the window when they arrived at their destination.

"Hermione, we're here," Harry said, gently shaking her shoulder to pull her out of her thoughts.

"Sorry, I drifted off again," Hermione said as she jumped up and put Crookshanks into his basket.

Harry smiled understandingly at her, knowing exactly where her mind had been. He knew how worried about Voldemort, Hermione had been all year, and he was actually putting a lot of her snappish behaviour down to her worry about her father. His aunt hadn't been quite her normal self all year, and he completely understood why. He was just hoping his grandfather's ritual would work over the summer and things would be alright. He hated to think what life would be like if the ritual didn't work and Voldemort died.

Brushing aside his troubling thoughts, Harry grabbed his trunk and followed Ron out of the compartment. Hermione was right behind the pair as they disembarked from the train. Once on the platform, Hermione looked around for any sign on her mother. When she spotted Beth, her face broke out in a wide grin and saying goodbye to Ron she hurried over to her mother.

"Hello, sweetheart," Beth greeted as she hugged her daughter. "Have you had a good year?"

"Yeah," Hermione replied. "Is everything okay with Dad?"

"Everything's great," Beth answered. "Should we get going?"

"Okay, I'll just see if Harry wants to walk out with us," Hermione said, keeping up their muggle act in public.

Spotting Harry over with the Weasleys, Hermione left her trunk and cat carrier with her mother and headed over to him. She greeted Molly with a smile, before asking Harry if he wanted to walk out with her and her mother.

"Yeah. Thanks, Hermione," Harry said.

"We'll see you over the holidays, Harry," Molly said. "You too, Hermione," She added, giving the brunette witch a slightly forced smile.

"Don't worry, we'll write," Ron called as Harry and Hermione headed back to where Beth was waiting for them.

"Have you already agreed to go and visit Ron over the holidays?" Hermione asked when they were out of earshot of the Weasleys.

"Of course not," Harry replied. "Molly's just assuming we're going to visit."

"Typical Weasley, always assuming," Hermione muttered.

"Hi, Mrs Granger," Harry said brightly when they reached Beth.

"Hello, Harry," Beth replied with an amused grin. "Are the pair of you ready to go?"

Harry and Hermione nodded, and once Hermione had picked up her trunk and cat carrier, the trio made their way through to the muggle part of the train station. They then went through their usual routine of heading outside and pretending to separate before all meeting up again and Beth apparated them home for another summer.

* * *

 **C.** **O.** **T.** **D.**

* * *

A week into the holidays, Draco was round at Hermione and Harry's and the trio were in Hermione's room as their parents prepared for the ritual to restore Voldemort to full health. Despite Hermione wanting to be involved in the ritual, they'd been told in no uncertain terms to remain out of the way as the adults prepared everything they would need.

"This is so unfair," Hermione whined. "We could be helping."

"How do you know there's even anything for us to help with?" Harry questioned. "Beth said the potion was the tricky part, and they've been brewing it for the last month. I got the impression they were just going over last minute preparations before tonight."

"I'm sure there's something we could have done," Hermione insisted. "Or at the very least, they could have said we could attend the ritual. But no, we have to stay indoors out of the way."

"I'm not so sure I'd want to attend the ritual," Draco said from where he was lying sprawled on Hermione's bed.

"Why not?" Hermione demanded, wanting to know why her best friend wasn't interested in joining the action.

"You're not scared, are you?" Harry questioned with a smirk.

"Of course not," Draco scoffed. "But I was in father's study the other day and he had a book on his desk that was all about magical rituals. The ritual he was reading about involved everyone chanting naked around a fire at midnight."

"Grandfather's ritual is taking place at midnight," Harry said with wide eyes.

"Please. You can't possibly believe my parents, Severus and Draco's parents are going to be chanting naked around a fire," Hermione snorted.

"I wouldn't put it past my parents," Draco muttered, causing Hermione and Harry to both laugh as they knew just what Lucius and Narcissa were like.

"Okay, I can imagine Lucius getting involved with naked chanting," Hermione conceded. "But I can't see Father doing anything of the kind, and I definitely can't see Severus doing it either."

"They would if it was part of the ritual," Harry argued, although he really didn't want to think of his father and grandfather getting naked with the Malfoys.

"We don't know anything about the ritual though," Hermione argued. "It might not involve chanting naked. It might involve sacrificing a virgin, or holding an orgy."

"Virgin sacrifices and orgies? What the hell have you been reading, Hermione?" Harry questioned, looking at his aunt in curiosity.

"I may have done a bit of research on various magical rituals since we've been home," Hermione admitted with a shrug. "I found all sorts of dodgy things that happen during rituals."

"This is all getting weirder by the minute, so I'm more than happy to stay out of things," Draco said. "I don't want to witness naked people, or be sacrificed as a virgin."

"I'm with Draco," Harry said with a nod. "No naked people or virgins for me either."

"You two are ridiculous," Hermione tutted as she stalked over to the window and looked out over the back garden.

Her mother and Narcissa had been in the garden earlier picking some sort of wild flower, but they were gone now and she wondered what was going on. She didn't even know where the ritual was being held, let alone what it involved. All she knew was she had a fifty percent chance of never seeing her father again if the ritual went wrong.

Hermione was still contemplating the outcome of the ritual when there was a knock on the door and her mother appeared.

"We're leaving in five minutes," Beth announced. "We're trusting you to stay here and behave yourselves. If you need anything, one of the elves will see to you."

"Can I see Father before he leaves?" Hermione asked.

"Of course," Beth answered. "Come downstairs and say goodbye before we leave."

Not needing to be told twice, Hermione hurried out of her bedroom and sprinted down the stairs. By the time Harry and Draco arrived in the front room with Beth, Hermione was in Voldemort's arms and the dark wizard was doing his best to reassure his daughter he would be okay.

"Even if the worst should happen, remember I love you," Voldemort said to Hermione. Giving his daughter a kiss on the forehead, he turned to his grandson. "And that goes for you too, Harry. You, Hermione, Severus and Beth mean the world to me, and I'm doing this for all of us. Once I'm strong again, we can work on regaining power in the wizarding world and you'll never have to hide who you are again."

"Does that mean if this works, we'll be going to school next year as ourselves?" Harry asked with an excited grin.

"Not quite so fast, Harry," Voldemort chuckled. "If this works, it's just the first step of many. I think you'll have to keep up your act for a few more years yet."

"I don't care about the act, I just want you to come back," Hermione said quietly.

"I'll do everything in power to make sure that happens," Voldemort vowed.

"We all will," Severus added, giving his little sister a smile. "We all want Father back to full health, and we'll all do everything we can to make that happen."

"We're going to have to leave soon," Lucius interrupted, sounding regretful. He didn't want to intrude on the family's moment together, but they still had things to set up before the ritual took place in a few hours' time.

Lucius's words brought an end to the goodbyes, and Voldemort gave Hermione one final hug before realising her and briefly embracing Harry. As the adults all left to perform the ritual, Hermione let the tears that had been threating to fall all day leave her eyes. Draco instantly wrapped his arms around Hermione, and Harry watched with a sad smile as his aunt clung to Draco as she let out all her fears.

"Come on, let's all do something," Harry said once Hermione had calmed down and was back to normal.

"Like what?" Hermione asked.

"We could ask the house elves to make us some hot chocolate and play some card games," Harry suggested.

"Okay, that sounds like fun," Hermione said with a nod.

Of course the house elves were more than happy to oblige and they quickly provided the teenagers with three mugs of hot chocolate, along with a plate of biscuits. With the refreshments sorted, the trio settled down to play cards. For a couple of hours, they happily played cards but as midnight approached the atmosphere became tenser and they abandoned their card games as they wondered what was happening with Voldemort's ritual.

By half past twelve the trio had packed away their cards and were sitting anxiously awaiting news when they heard the sound of apparition in the front hallway. The three teenagers tried to count the pops to work out if Voldemort was with them, but there was too many simultaneous noises for them to be able to deduce anything. Still none the wiser as to the result of the ritual, they jumped to their feet as the door to the front open began to open.

Hermione's heart was in her mouth as the door opened and Lucius and Narcissa entered the room first. Neither Malfoy indicated what had happened with the ritual, and their expressions were impossible to tell anything by. Severus and Beth were the next to enter, and again their expressions gave nothing away. Finally Voldemort stepped into the room and Hermione let out a squeal of joy at the sight of her father.

"You did it," She cried, as she ran towards her father.

"We did it," Voldemort confirmed with a huge smile, as everyone else burst into brilliant smiles and the mood in the room became one of celebration.

"Are you back?" Harry asked as he hugged his grandfather. "Is your magic back to normal?"

"Everything is back to normal," Voldemort replied with a wicked smirk. "I'm back, and soon everyone will know it. Dumbledore and his precious supporters better watch out, because The Dark Lord is back, and I'm stronger than ever."

"And now, I say we celebrate," Beth said as she summoned a house elf and asked it to bring out the champagne she had on ice.

"Wow, we're getting some," Harry remarked when the elf produced enough glasses for all five adults and the three teenagers.

"Just one glass," Severus warned.

"One's enough for me," Hermione said as she remained at her father's side. "I'm just pleased I've still got a Father."

"You and me both, Hermione," Severus said with a smile as he handed his sister a drink.

"I propose a toast," Lucius announced as he raised his glass. "To The Dark Lord."

"The Dark Lord," Everyone chorused.

"I also have a toast," Voldemort said as people took their first drinks. "To everyone else in this room. My amazing wife, Beth. My brilliant children, Severus and Hermione, and my wonderful grandson, Harry. And the Malfoys, Lucius, Narcissa and Draco, who are part of this family. To family."

Everyone drank to Voldemort's toast, before conversation drifted onto ways to announce his return. Voldemort wasn't quite sure how he wanted to announce his presence, but he knew he wanted it to be memorable. Luckily, the perfect event was being hosted in Britain over the summer, The Quidditch World Cup. That was where Voldemort would make his return, and the whole world would be talking about how The Dark Lord was back in business.

 **T** **h** **e** **E** **n** **d** **.**

* * *

 **A/N – Thank you to everyone for reading, and especially reviewing, Children of the Dark. As I said in an earlier note, there will be longer gaps between posting the parts as the story progresses. Each year is getting longer, therefore it takes longer to write, not to mention I'm still writing other stories at the same time. I've just finished year 4, so it'll be ready to post in a few weeks' time. Year 4 is also the last year that follows canon fairly closely, come 5** **th** **year things are going to start changing dramatically.**

 **Thanks again for your support, and I'll let people know when year 4 is up.**


	23. sequel notification

**Just to say Children of the Dark – Year Four has now been posted.**


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